


Welcome to the Renegades

by Ravenclaws_do_it_better



Series: The Renegades [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, They aren't side-kicks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-02 08:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 39,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2806229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenclaws_do_it_better/pseuds/Ravenclaws_do_it_better
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Renegades. A group of street kids based in Gotham who had somehow managed to stay under the Bat's radar for several years. He found out eventually though, he always does. This is their story, the story of twelve street kids and an ex-sidekick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first story I've posted on AO3, I'm crossposting this from fanfiction under the name Ravenclaws-do-it-better (apparently you can't use dashes on AO3). I'll be working on getting all of the chapters that are up there up here over the next few days as but new updates should be every Wednesday unless something pops up and I can't get to it until Saturday (speaking from experience here). For now though I hope you enjoy my AU of Young Justice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

"Get out of here you little freak!" a woman screeches, throwing a little girl with a small bundle in her arms out of the door and on to the street, "and don't even think of returning!"

The little girl's eyes water as she looks up at the woman, "but Mama…"

She's silenced as the woman slaps her across the face, throwing her to the ground once more.

"I'm not your mother," she says coldly.

With those final words she slams the door leaving a softly sobbing girl to slowly pick herself up as she made her way to the fire escape on the side of the building and climbed up slowly as a bruise blossoms on her cheek. When she reaches the third floor she stops and peers into the window of the sparsely furnished and darkened room before opening the window and climbing in.

"Don't worry little brother, we'll be fine, we'll just hide out here until Mom, Dad, and Karen are asleep then we'll get stuff and get going," she says to the bundle in her arms.

Several hours pass but no one comes in and the baby stays miraculously silent until the lights inside darken and she smiles.

"Just a little longer, I need to make sure they're asleep," she whispers conspiratorially to the baby who gives her a smile but otherwise remains silent and several more hours pass before the girl gets up, lays the sleeping baby on the thin mattress and pulls a bag out from beneath it.

She opens the door silently and makes her way out into the hall, grabbing several blankets and towels from the hall closet as she passes before heading to a bedroom. She walks in and packs the diaper bag full of baby food, diapers, wipes, clothes, and a few of the smaller toys before pausing at the crib to grab a single bear stuffed animal before making her way back out and into the kitchen before raiding the pantry and stuffing the food into the duffel holding the blankets she had stolen. She stared at the counter and the knife block before smiling and grabbing them all, along with the knife sharpener, and stuffing them among the blankets.

She makes her way back down the hall and into the empty bedroom, all that's in there is a bed and a dresser, and goes to the dresser, pulling out all of the clothes and sorting them into two piles. None of them were very girlie but there's a definite difference of before her powers and after, Simon's just unlucky enough to get them early. In the end she has two piles, one significantly larger than the other which she packs up. Normally she wouldn't take so many clothes as she knew she would grow out of them quickly but after her powers showed up her parents started buying her clothes that were more androgynous, neither girl or boy clothes meaning Simon could wear them once he got older making them useful while some of the others which were in less pristine condition could be used as rags.

She knew how to pack for running away, and wasn't that sad. Her parents hadn't wanted her around much even before this and would often throw her out with instructions not to return until dark so she'd taken to wandering the city and befriended a couple of working girls after she kicked the asses of some of the guys who decided they wanted a free show using her powers. She'd told them about one day how her parents were going to kick her out and they had given her instructions to grab all the nonperishable food she could (which was all of it in her house, she was strong), lots of blankets, warm clothes, and a weapon but also not to bring much else as it would slow her down, too bad she hadn't anticipated having to care for a baby.

They'd also taught her the rules of the street and gotten a couple of the guys in the gang they worked for for the protection from assholes to teach her how to fight and how to steal, needless to say, they would survive.

As she was zipping up the duffel she heard a noise from the hallway and quickly closed both bags before slinging them over her shoulders and grabbing Simon. She stared at the bed for a moment before sighing and grabbing the pillow and the stuffed rabbit laying on it, stuffing it in the pillowcase before making her way to the still open window as the door opens to reveal Karen.

There is silence for a moment as the two sisters stare at each other. They are twins, identical in almost every way except for two very important facts; Katherine's a Meta and Karen's crazy.

"You took almost all of my pretty, pretty knives," Karen sing-songs quietly and Kat's heart almost stops as she hears the key word, Almost and she remembers, "Daddy's switchblade."

Their Dad had two knives that he kept hidden from the girls although Katherine knew where they were. One was a Swiss Army Knife from when he went camping with a couple of his drinking buddies. It was really expensive with lots of different attachments while the other was a pocket knife from when he was a kid. It wasn't nearly as nice but it was sharp, and she'd already been threatened with it once.

Karen was crazy, and Kat was personally waiting for the time when she would be discovered and sent to Arkham.

"But that's okay, I still have these," Karen sing-songs again before pulling out both of them and Kat curses in her mind, the girls had a very colorful vocabulary that they happily taught her.

Kat backs away to the bed, laying Simon and the pillow down on it before swinging her bags off and onto it as well.

She turns to her sister who has a smile to match the Joker as she flicks both knives out before Kat glares at her and raises her hand. Both knives float away and Karen gasps before Kat throws her into the wall.

Well, less throwing, more increasing the gravity the wall gave off specifically on her body and drawing her towards it. She wasn't telekinetic, she could just control gravity.

She walks over to where the knives float and plucks them out of the air before putting them in her pillowcase (after closing them) and grabbing all of her bags before finally picking up Simon.

"You really are a freak, just like Mom and Dad said," Karen hisses.

"And you're crazy, goodbye," Kat says before climbing out the window, down the fire escape, and walking down the street. Some of the girls, specifically Bobbi and Cherry, had told her that when her parents finally kicked her out she could stay for a day or two until she found some abandoned apartment of her own.

Katherine Tyler was six years old.

Simon Tyler was six months old.

They were living alone on the streets of Gotham City and Kat couldn't be happier.


	2. Mama Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been six months since she'd left, and a lot has changed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

They'd been alone for six months now. Simon was one and her seventh birthday loomed on the horizon. It hadn't taken her long at all to find a place to stay indefinitely. This was Gotham, abandoned buildings abounded, the only hard part was finding one suitably unoccupied but eventually she found The One.

** Flashback **

It was an abandoned apartment building in the Narrows and normally that would mean it was crawling with homeless and you wouldn't be able to find a place to rest your head, but this one was different. It had been closed due to structural insecurities and while this would normally not act as a deterrent, the first two floors were boarded up, nice and tight; no one could get in, not to mention all the holes in the floor on the second story which caused the place to look less and less desirable.

But Kat was different.

She could remove the gravity on her body to where she could float up not to mention climb with the claws that her fingernails turned into. She had climbed up until she had reached the fire escape on the second story where she used the stairs to get to the third which was impressive, to her at least.

The third through fifth stories looked untouched; there were even still beds in several of the bedrooms while the floor didn't have any holes in it (she practically jumped for joy when she realized that fact). The stairs leading upstairs were still intact along with the elevator shaft with the elevator being on the bottom floor.

There was no electricity, the windows were all boarded up (she saw this as a semi-plus), and several of the walls were destroyed but it didn't matter, a little TLC and it would be perfect. There were random things in all of the rooms, most likely looked over when the place closed down; rope, lighters, refrigerators (that didn't work, no electricity remember?), candles, random pieces of furniture, a knife, some green paint, tools and nails, plywood, pens, and eating utensils (plates, bowls, cups, and silverware). An even better surprise was that the water ran in most of the apartments and after a minute of each of the faucets running the brown sludge disappeared in favor of clean (looking anyways) water although she wouldn't use it unless she had to.

After two hours wandering around the place she nodded to herself before climbing back out the window, propping the plywood back in place, and climbing down the ladder which sprung back into place when she kicked it.

** Flashback End **

She had gone back to Bobbi's, who was watching Simon, pickpocketing on her way there and had been at the apartment building ever since.

Now, however, she wasn't paying attention to that. Now, she was sitting on the floor at a coffee table she had found on the second floor when she had been exploring with a happily babbling Simon and a tiny cake she had gotten cheap from Publix with a bit of money left over from groceries. It was late spring so she wouldn't need to buy any blankets or jackets for a while so she could afford to splurge on the tiny five dollar cake.

She sang "Happy Birthday" and then placed the cake in front of him which he happily mashed into his face while she laughed and watched until he was finished.

They were doing very well for two runaways which was something she didn't take for granted, she made sure to stock up on her food with the money she got from pickpocketing although she did keep a fair amount on hand just in case.

Bobbi let them use the showers twice a week for fifty bucks a month since she didn't trust the water in the apartment and any free time she had was spent in the library practicing reading or math. Today, however, she wasn't going to go out, she was just going to stay around the apartment with her little brother.

"Mama," Simon crowed happily and Kat turned to him with wide eyes.

"Mama, Mama!" he spoke again and Kat found herself smiling before grabbing him up and spinning him around.

"Oh, my brilliant little boy!" she spoke while he giggled and babbled again, "Mama, Mama."

* * *

One year.

One year since they had run away.

One year since she had stolen from her ex-family and cut all ties.

She walked down the street with Simon in her arms. The one-and-a-half year-old could walk, but not very well which led to her carrying him while on the streets. No one paid attention to them, their clothes were the typical clothes of Gotham street-kids, dirty, ratty, too-small, and falling apart. She could only do laundry once a month at the Laundromat she had found, they had enough money for food and their twice-weekly showers along with the occasional second-hand clothes or blankets but not much else. They were actually headed to Bobbi's now for a shower.

As they made their way through the Narrows they kept to the shadows, something Kat was very good at, and listened to the sound of Gotham. Gunshots in the distance, people talking, cars driving by; yup, this was definitely Gotham.

No one bothers to mug her in the alleyways, she has no bag, no money and her clothes reflect that. Even the guys who would stop her for less…monetary reasons don't bother as they go for older women with more curves in their chest area. Kidnappers don't bother; no one would pay for her wellbeing, they could shoot her all day and no one would give a damn. Pedophiles don't bother her either because she purposely keeps her hair boyishly short and makes sure she looks unattractive, it's worked so far and she just hopes it'll keep working.

She stops in front of Bobbi' apartment and knocks on the door before waiting for several minutes with no answer. She knocks again and again, no answer. She puts her ear to the door to see if Bobbi's working or out but is only rewarded with silence and figures Bobbi's out until she smells it.

Blood.

Living in Gotham had given her a good taste of violence and she knew she was lucky to escape that, especially living on the streets like she did but she definitely knew blood when she smelled it. With wide eyes she broke the door down and was rewarded with the sight of an unmoving Bobbi lying in a pool of blood while wide unblinking eyes stared at her. Based on her state of dress she'd say she was raped before they killed her and she barely keeps her breakfast down at the sight. She closes Bobbi's eyes and makes her way to Cherry's apartment where she meets the same sight and she realizes what happened.

Gang war.

Crying softly she runs back to her apartment where she carries Simon up the ladder and into the room before she breaks down in tears as she realizes the true cruelty of Gotham. She'd been living a fairytale before but now the closest things she had to a true mother had been killed opening her eyes to the true world.

She cries herself to sleep that night on the mattress she and Simon share with one pillow and lots of blankets.

* * *

She had gotten caught. She was pickpocketing some random teenager off the street but his friends had seen and now here she was, running down the streets trying to get away. She still had the cash and if she could get onto the roofs of the buildings she had a chance but she couldn't get away long enough to climb up and she didn't want people to know about her powers so she was stuck with running. She knew the streets, she'd been living on them for over a year but the problem was these were teenagers who had gone onto the streets at her age giving them years of experience over her.

She takes a wrong turn and finds herself in a dead-end alley and as she turns back the group turns the corner. She'd gone into Gotham proper for the people who had more cash and were less likely to notice and/or kill her but it seems she was wrong.

They jeer at her as they come closer, trying to look threatening before a figure lands in between them. They're clad in all black and her first thought is, "Batman," until she hears the feminine voice call out.

"Leave her alone."

When they don't listen and continue to come closer she brings out a whip and within a few minutes it's over and the woman turns to look at Kat.

"Hey kitten, are you okay?" she asks as she kneels down to Kat's level, who looks up at her with teary eyes before nodding.

"Yeah, they caught me when I was pickpocketing from one of them and I couldn't climb up onto the roofs 'cuz they were too close so I had to run. Thank you for saving me Ms. Catwoman!"

She chuckles, "no problem kid, why are you on the streets anyways?"

"My Mom and Dad didn't want me or my brother 'cuz we're freaks so they kicked us out a year ago and Bobbi and Cherry and some of the girls helped us out a little but they were killed a couple months ago so now it's just me and Simon and he'll be two in four months!"

She looks at Kat in horror for a moment before speaking, "why did your parents call you freaks?"

"We're Metas; we can turn into cats and manipulate gravity so we always land on our feet! Well, at least I can, I'm not sure about Simon yet."

"Hmm, well kid I like you so I'll give you a deal, I'll train you and your brother to be master thieves and you a) show me where you're staying and b) don't tell anyone about me helping you out, gotta maintain my image after all."

Kat thinks about it for a minute before nodding and grabbing her hand, "come on, I'll show you where I'm staying at."

They climb to the roof of the building and are silent for several minutes as they run across rooftops until they reach the abandoned apartment building Kat calls home. Once they get inside Selina looks around the room and whistles appreciatively.

"Nice place you got here, 'specially a street kid. How'd you find this place?"

"It was abandoned and no one wanted it 'cuz of all the structural damage to the first two floors but the next three are perfectly fine but they couldn't get to them, plus it's really hard to get into so it's safer than a lot of places."

"You're a smart kid, now, where's this brother of yours?"

"In our room," she says before leading the way to where a little boy sits at a small coffee table, coloring.

"MAMA!" he yells out as soon as he sees Kat before waddling over to her and Selina inwardly seethes at the audacity of the people who could kick out such a sweet kid, before he turns one too if Kat's words are true.

"Hi Simon!" she says as she pulls him into her arms before turning to look at Catwoman, "this is Miss Catwoman, can you say 'Hi!'?"

"Hi," he says shyly, burying his face in Kat's neck and Selina melts.

"Hi Simon, my name is Selina, it is very nice to meet you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you wondering, the reason Kat is so blabby about her powers is that she's afraid. Remember, she's just a seven year-old kid, smart and independent as I'm trying to make her, and she's just been chased by a group of big, threatening teenagers about three times her size.  
> Reviews are love  
> ~Miss Claw


	3. The Circus Comes to Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter the Bird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

It'd been two years since they had ended up on the street. It was ten months since Aunt Selina had taken them under her… paw and started to train them. Simon she was just teaching basic acrobatics like tumbling but Kat she was training to be her apprentice. She taught them several languages, it was wise to know what your target was saying, and taught Kat several fighting styles and maneuvers, even a whip which turned into her favorite along with small knives and her claws. They experimented with using Kat's powers in battle situations which was very slow going as she didn't affect the object itself, she affected gravity on the object meaning to throw something back she had to draw it backwards towards another object so Kat had taken to practicing by using her powers around the house, floating cans to her or away, calling back the throwing knives Selina had given her.

All-in-all life was going good. She wasn't getting caught at stealing from people anymore and she had considered breaking into places but decided she wasn't good enough yet.

There was supposed to be a circus coming to town. Kat was excited and considered sneaking in but had eventually decided not to as Simon wouldn't be able to sneak in because of all the extra security since billionaire Bruce Wayne was supposed to be there so instead she spent the night reading a physics book she had lifted from the library, she would return it later and no one would be the wiser.

* * *

Little Richard Grayson sat sobbing quietly on the sidelines, still covered in his parents' blood as the police and Pop Haley argued over his future.

"You can't send him to Juvenile Hall! He's just a little boy who's lost his parents, he's done nothing wrong!" Pop Haley's voice calls over the crowd and Dick looks up at this.

' _Juvenile Hall? I can't go there!_ ' he thinks desperately as the police officer says something about the orphanages being all full. In the movement of the circus he runs to his trailer and grabs a bag, packing all of his things up, he didn't have much, they had never been the richest family out there but they had never minded, and when all of it was packed up he grabbed Peanut in his arms and walked over to his parents' things. He runs his fingers over the framed pictures before pulling all of them out except one and stuffing them into the scrapbook lying on the table. He grabs the entire frame before grabbing his mother's carefully folded, handmade quilt and his father's favorite sweatshirt and running away. He runs, and runs, and runs until he can't run anymore before stopping in an alley next to an abandoned apartment building. He slides down the wall and clutches his things closely as he cries until the sun comes up when he finally falls asleep.

* * *

Bruce Wayne was worried, not that he'd ever admit it, never, to anyone, but he was. Last night little Richard Grayson, third part of the famous Flying Grayson's had gone missing. Run away, right after giving evidence that Tony Zucco had murdered his parents.

He was worried not only because he was afraid that Zucco had gotten to him, but because he had wanted to adopt the small boy who had reminded him of himself. Commissioner Gordon said they were doing everything they could but with this being Gotham he knew it would be low priority, especially with him being a runaway. He looked for him on patrol that night but Gotham was a big city and he couldn't find him.

Sighing he went upstairs for a few hours of sleep, silently hoping the kid would be okay.

* * *

The sun was just coming up when Kat decided to go for a walk. Simon would still be asleep for a few hours; he was a late sleeper, so she didn't have to worry about that. She made her way to the window and looked down into the alley to see a sleeping boy, about her age, with black hair and a stuffed elephant. He looked like he had cried himself to sleep; she could still see the tear-tracks on his face glinting in the sunlight.

She silently climbed to the bottom of the ladder before using gravity to pull it down, loudly unfortunately, which startled the kid awake but she was down there and in front of him before he could run.

"Wh…who are you?" he asks looking up at her with bloodshot blue eyes and she recognizes him as a new orphan.

"Name's Katherine, you can call me Kat," she says and he nods and considers a moment before speaking.

"I'm Richard, you can call me Dick," he says and this time it's her turn to nod before speaking.

"What are you doing out alone, shouldn't you be in an orphanage or something?" she asks which gets a rise out of him.

"Shouldn't you? You don't look all that older than me," he tells her with a glare and she laughs, a cold, bitter laugh.

"I'm all of eight; I've been on the streets for two years after my parents kicked me and my little brother out, anyways you need a place to crash? Gotham isn't that safe for those just starting out."

"…Sure, thanks, my parents died last night and the police were going to send me to Juvenile Hall," he whispers at the end and she glares at nothing before grabbing his bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Come on, you'll love my place," she tells him before looking up and increasing the gravity on the ladder, pulling it down.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" he asks in awe and she smirks.

"Magic," she jumps up and grabs the bottom rung before starting to climb and when she reaches the landing he follows suit until he stands next to her, "back up a few steps."

He does as she says and watches as she kicks the ladder which pops back into place because of the spring before she pulls out a pipe and stops the ladder from being knocked down by someone else before leading the way up the stairwell and into the window.

They made their way out through the empty apartment and up the stairs to the fifth floor where Simon and Kat lived and stopped outside the door.

"This is where my brother and I live but he's still sleeping so we'll talk out here, there's two bedrooms and you can have the second one since Simon and I share or you can pick your own apartment, personally I'd recommend choosing the one in here so we conserve body heat since winter's coming up soon and Gotham winters are cold, we've already lived through two. There's a fireplace in the living room we light up during the winter for warmth with wood from the parks or random buildings around town also so that's another reason to stay in here. You're welcome to any of the food until you learn to steal your own…"

"Steal?! But stealing's wrong!" he exclaims and Kat blinks at him in surprise for a moment.

"You should've thought of that before you ran away, there's no other way to get food for kids out here, soup kitchens will turn us in as runaways and in Gotham they don't give out scraps but you did make the smart choice, Juvenile Hall is where all the kids that'll end up in Arkham when they're older go, you're better off on the streets than there."

"But…but my Mom always told me that stealing was wrong," he whispers with tears in his eyes and she pulls him into a hug.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure your Mom also doesn't want you to die or get beat to a bloody pulp daily so that means the only thing left to do is steal, Aunt Selina and I'll teach you so you don't get caught and with the two of us working together we can split duties up so you won't have to steal a lot, okay?"

He nods reluctantly and she pulls him into the apartment, "you have a choice, do you want to stay in here, or get your own?"

"I think I'll stay in here, I'm used to a lot of people so it'd be weird if I was all on my own, if that's alright," he says and she smiles.

"It's perfect, now I have two brothers!"

Simon had immediately like Dick, saying he was his new big brother and now he had a brother and a Mama, Dick had looked at Kat weird and she had explained that night after Simon went to bed. Dick went to bed early too since he hadn't gotten any sleep at all the night before. He curled up under his mom's quilt and used his dad's sweatshirt as a pillow, they still smelled like his parents, and he quickly fell into an uneasy sleep.

Kat was reading a book about pressure points on a human body when she heard the first scream. She jumped up and bolted to Dick's door in time for the second and listened for a moment as he yelled in a language she didn't recognize, " **Mama, Tata, nu, nu sari, nu se încadrează, vă rugăm să nu lăsaţi-mă, Mama, Tata, NU, NU, NU, NU, MAMA TATA!** " (Mom, Dad, no, don't jump, don't fall, please don't leave me, Mom, Dad, NO, NO, NO, NO, MOM, DAD!)

She ran towards the boy and shook him awake. He looked at her with watery eyes before pulling his knees up to his chest and crying into them, she only hesitated a moment before pulling him into a hug. She noticed a sleepy Simon standing in the doorway and turned to him.

"Go back to sleep, I'll be there in a minute," she told him but he shook his head before dragging his blanket and Brownie the bear onto the mattress on the other side of Dick and curling up there. After a moment his sobs soften and he falls asleep. Kat smiles and lays him down pulling the quilt up over them and curling up next to him.

He doesn't have a nightmare again that night.

The next morning Kat wakes up first, as usual, and grabs herself a pack of Pop-Tarts before sitting on the couch and reading her book. After a while Dick wakes up and she smiles at him.

"Are you feeling better this morning?"

"I'm not tired anymore, so I guess."

"There's Pop-Tarts in the fridge, that's where we store food even though it doesn't work," she says and turns back to her book while he goes to the kitchen before returning to sit on the wall across from her.

"I'm sorry about last night, I didn't mean to wake you guys up, I can move to a different apartment so it doesn't happen again," he mumbles softly, looking down at the ground and she sighs before getting up and walking over to sit next to him.

"First of all, you didn't wake me up, I was just out here reading with one of the candles, second of all, you are not moving rooms, I was serious when I said Gotham winters are harsh and we'll need to conserve body heat, besides, you slept better when there was someone next to you so the three of us can just make a pile to stay warm and I doubt you'll wake us up nearly as much okay? I want you to be comfortable here not punishing yourself for us."

"But why?!" he yells and she's taken aback for a moment before he continues, "Why do I deserve your comfort, it's my fault my parents died, if I had just told them then they would still be here, not dead!"

With those final words he breaks down into tears and she pulls him into a hug, making soothing noises as she strokes his hair.

"Why did they have to die?" he asks brokenly as he sobs into her shoulder.

"I don't know, maybe we were meant to meet, but I do know this, I know that it was not your fault they died, you're a kid, you couldn't have done anything, besides didn't you tell the police what the guy did? He's going to get justice, if the police can't catch him then Batman will, trust me on this one. Batman will catch him and he'll spend the rest of his miserable existence rotting in prison."

"But what if he doesn't?" Dick asks looking up and Kat looks confused, "what if Batman can't catch him?"

"Well then, Aunt Selina is training me how to fight, and I'm sure she can train you too, we'll catch the guy and turn him into the cops; we'll be like kid superheroes…or something."

At this a light sparks in his eyes and he smiles, "yeah, we'll catch him and he'll get what he deserves!"

* * *

It'd been little over a month since the Grayson case and Bruce was sad to say he had forgotten. Soon after Joker had done another "destroy the city" plot and right after he had put Joker away there had been a breakout at Arkham. He hadn't had any time to find Tony Zucco and bring the kid's parents murderer to justice and the police weren't having any luck finding him either so eventually he pushed it to the back of his mind until one night Gordon called him to the roof.

"Good work with Zucco, Bats; but, did you really have to traumatize the guy?" the Commissioner had asked when he had arrived and Bruce could honestly say he was confused.

"What do you mean Commissioner, I haven't had any time to catch Zucco with Joker and the Arkham breakout," at his words Gordon looked surprised.

"We found Zucco unconscious and dangling upside down from a light pole. When we woke him up he started going on about "Demon Children, Cats, and Little Robins" and we couldn't get much else out of him. He had several broken bones, cuts, and what look like claw marks. He's currently sitting in a padded room at Arkham."

"I had nothing to do with that; the Grayson's had a son, Richard wasn't it? Could he have something to do with it, it would explain the "Demon Children" although not the plural use of children or the "Cats and Little Robins"."

"Possibly, but he's been missing since that night, ran away, we think he overheard the officers saying they were going to send him to Juvenile Hall since the orphanages were full and ran away, no one's seen or heard from him since."

I mentally growl when I hear where they were going to send them but otherwise show nothing as I vanish into the shadows.

I'll figure that out later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then there were three, now Batman's interested but distracted but don't worry *giggles evilly* he'll figure it out...eventually.


	4. A Place to Stay for the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even numbers are always best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Wallace Rudolph West whimpered in pain as his father stomped down onto his chest.

"Shut up you little bitch, you're a freak, no one wants you," the larger man drunkenly slurs as he continues to beat the redhead until finally he leaves the room to grab another beer.

This had been going on for years but it had gotten worse after that accident at his Uncle Barry's lab. His Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris were awesome and all but he just couldn't tell them about this, he'd always thought that if he was good; if he wasn't a bother, got good grades, did all his chores on time; that his daily beatings would lessen and vanish but now he realized that wasn't going to happen.

The ten-year old whimpered as he felt his ribs, he didn't think anything was broken, he could still breath and he wasn't coughing up blood, plus there wasn't a tell-tale  _Crack_  as his father stomped on him. His mother didn't care, she was gone a lot anyways, and she hated him just as much since his powers.

Tonight though, he'd had enough.

He'd been thinking about it for years, planning it for months, debating for weeks, and tonight he would leave. He'd finally get away from his parents and on his own. He'd thought it through, the best place he had would be Gotham, yeah the crime rate was high and there were psychos running around but the Bat kept them mostly in check and with the crime rate he would fit in as just another runaway. He'd realized that to survive he'd have to steal but weighing the pros with the cons he finally decided it would be worth it to get away. He already had a bag packed, a duffel with clothes and some food, not a lot but a little, he'd empty out the pantry tonight after his dad passed out.

He waited for a while, idly washing and dressing his wounds, he'd gotten off easy tonight, just some bruises and a busted lip; he hadn't even gotten a bloody nose this time. Most of the smaller bruises would be gone by the time he left, well past midnight, and the only thing he had to contend with were his ribs which he hoped would be just a faint bruise by then. He pressed his ear to the door and, hearing his father's loud drunken snores, smirked to himself before speeding downstairs and to the pantry.

There wasn't a lot there, the lazy lump couldn't get a job, but there was enough that he could spread it out for a week, maybe two if he had only two meals and no snacks. He packed everything into his duffel, grabbed a blanket and stuffed it into a pillowcase along with a pillow before waiting on his bed.

He watched the hours ticked away until his freedom and when one a.m. finally hit he pressed his ear up against his bedroom door again and, hearing his father's continuing snores, sped out of the house and onto the streets towards Gotham.

* * *

Barry Allen was worried. No, he was beyond worried; he was… tormented with fear and worry for his favorite nephew Wally who had run away a week ago. He'd asked Bats if he could help him look but aside from setting all of the cameras in Central City to look for his face there wasn't much else he could do.

So here he was running around Central City in a hope to catch a glimpse of Wally. No one knew why he had run away, Rudy had said he had fallen asleep while Mary was still gone and that was when Wally must've left.

There was no sign of the kid and he sighed before returning home.

* * *

Wally had been in Gotham for a week and because of his metabolism had eaten all of his food already so now he had to steal. He had known before he ran away, planned for it actually, but now that he was at the actual doing stage he was worried.

He walked down the street, hands in the pocket of his hoodie and hood up. He was ignored by all of the people walking down the street next to him, this was Gotham runaways weren't unusual.

He continued on his way down the street until he saw a street vendor selling apples and took a deep breath before using his speed to run past and grab two apples before running into an empty alleyway by an old abandoned apartment building.

"Whoa," someone said from behind him and he turned to see a kid, a couple years younger than him standing there, "you're a Meta aren't you."

It wasn't a question but he nodded anyways and the kid smiled, "Cool, you got a place to crash for the night?"

Wally blinked at the sudden change in subject before responding, "no, not really but I'll find someplace before it gets too late."

"No you won't, you'll find a place right now, come with me."

With that the kid turned around and walked two steps backwards before picking up a rock and throwing it straight upwards and with a loud  _Clang_  a rusty old fire escape ladder dropped down and the kid quickly jumped up and started climbing before turning back to him.

"Come on, Kat'll want to meet ya', she's a Meta too, don't worry," with those words Wally felt his fears lessen slightly and he obediently followed the younger boy up the ladder. When he reached the top ladder slid back up and the kid stuck a slightly dented pole under one of the rungs at an angle.

"My name's Robin by the way, but you can call me Dick since you're gonna be staying for a while," Robin…no Dick says as they make their way through the apartment building and up to the fifth floor.

"KAT, I BROUGHT SOMEONE!" he yelled out as he walked into an apartment and a girl who looked to be about the same age as Dick with brown hair and green eyes looked up from the couch where she was reading a book. A two year-old sat at an old coffee table coloring with a bear by his side.

"Hello, who're you?" she asked and Wally thought a moment before responding.

"I'm Wally, Wally West, I ran away a week ago."

"Name's Kat Tyler and this is my little brother Simon, we were kicked out two years ago, well two years and four months, that's Dick Grayson he's been here for four months as well. You got a place to stay tonight?"

He shook his head and she considered for a moment before sighing, "Alright, you can stay here indefinitely or you can join the family. It's just the three of us here, Dick and I both steal and the three of us share the spoils, one of us is always here to watch Simon and Catwoman comes to help us train. To stay here all you need to do is take shifts with Simon and on the streets, clean up after yourself, tell us your name and your story. Also we fight crime, just small time muggings and stuff since we're just kids but you don't have to join in that unless you want to. We stay off the radar of the Bat, Gotham gangs, and the Arkham patients. That's about it, anything I forgot now one of us will tell you later. So, you in?"

He considers for a moment before speaking, "My name is Wallace Rudolph West, I'm ten, I had an accident in my uncle's lab that gave me super speed and my parents didn't like that…"

* * *

Barry Allen was sad, his nephew had been missing for almost a year now, it'd be a year in two months, and still no one had found him and he hadn't returned home. He wasn't in Central anymore; hell, with the amount of time he'd been gone he could be anywhere in the country.

He sighed, Wally was gone, and he probably wasn't coming back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, chapter four is now officially up, yay me! If I can find the motivation somewhere all of the chapters (all nineteen at this point) will be up tonight (or is it this morning? it is after midnight) and tomorrow (later today?) I plan on putting up a brand-new, never before seen chapter ;). Anyways, reviews are forever and always appreciated hasta luego me lovelies  
> ~Miss Claw


	5. Runaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look what the Cats dragged in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Jade Crock was done, she was fed up with her stupid father and she couldn't wait around any longer for her mother so here she was; a runaway. She'd wanted to take her sister with her, so bad. She'd wanted to get her away from their father before he turned her into an assassin but like she'd said, Artemis would just slow her down. So now she wandered Gotham's streets, looking for a place to stay.

"Hey little girl," a voice called out as she walked down an alley and she turned to see three idiots standing in the alley and leering at her, the thirteen year-old wasn't stupid, she knew exactly what they wanted but with her father's training, well, the night wouldn't exactly go as planned for them.

Suddenly two small shadows dropped down from the rooftops and onto the backs of two of the men while a blur took down the third and in seconds it was over and she stood in front of three kids, two boys and a girl.

"Hi," the girl chirped with a smile, "I'm Alley Cat, that's Robin," she pointed to the smaller black haired kid, "and that's Velocity," the red-haired boy gave her a wave, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, why'd you do that?"

The girl looked startled for a minute before responding, "We're all street kids, and I'm sure you know what street kids have to do to survive. We don't like having to steal though so, to make up for it, we stop small crimes, like muggings and stuff. I've been out here for three years, Robin for over a year and Velocity's been out here for almost a year. How long you been out here?"

She blinked before responding, "Just tonight, how old are you?"

"Me and Robin are nine, Velocity turned eleven not that long ago. You got a place to stay?"

"Not yet."

"Need one?" this time Velocity piped in and she blinked again.

"What's the price," she asked suspiciously and Alley Cat smiled.

"Well, if you stay for any length of time you're gonna have to pitch in, that means taking shifts stealing and watching Stray, he's my brother. If you're here when it's cold you'll have to take turns finding firewood and all of your old clothes once you outgrow them will be turned into hand-me-downs, for me if they're girlie or Velocity if they're not. You can't eat more than your share of food and Velocity gets a bigger share 'cuz of his metabolism. You don't have to play vigilante if you don't want to but we don't steal at night so we stay of the Bat's radar. Am I forgetting anything?"

"You'll get your own room or you could join the pile we all make since Velocity and I have nightmares. Catwoman comes to help us train sometimes since she likes us and if you do go into crime-fighting you'll need a name. We'll need your name, birthday, and story too," Robin explains and she thinks about it for a moment before speaking.

"If I know someone else who has a bad situation and needs out but still has a home can I bring them with?"

"So long as they don't turn us in, stay away from the Gangs and Bats, and they follow the rules they're invited. How old are they?" Alley Cat says and she sighs.

"It's my sister, she's eleven."

"Okay, we could always use more girls around the place 'cuz the guys are slobs," Alley Cat's rewarded with "Hey!"s from the boys and Jade smiles. This would be good.

* * *

Artemis Crock was crying, not only had her sister run away making her Dad angry but Sportsmaster had been so angry he had taken it out on her by making her train extra hard. She was mentally and physically exhausted but anytime she said anything her Dad just slapped her and told her to do it again.

"Psst! Alice!" a voice from the window calls and she turns around to see her sister standing at the window.

"Jade!" she whisper-yells before running over to the window and opening it, "you came back!"

"Listen Alice, I met some people, good people who'll help us. We can go with them and get away from Dad and never have to look back," Jade tells her and Artemis's face falls.

"You're not coming back?"

"No, I told you, I left for good but I can't just leave my little sister here with Dad."

"But what about when Mom comes back?" Artemis asks with a small voice and tears in her eyes and Jade thinks quickly before responding.

"You can come back, you can come live with me and my friends until Mom gets out of jail and then you can come back. That way you don't have to live with Dad and you don't leave Mom, okay?"

Artemis thinks it over for a moment. It sounds perfect, get away from Dad, stay with Jade, and still come back for Mom so she nods and Jade smiles.

"Good Alice, now come on you need to pack."

Within five minutes Artemis was ready to go, her white rabbit and Alice in Wonderland poster packed into a bag with blankets, her pillow, and clothes and the two of them left, not looking back.

They made their way through Gotham streets until they stopped in an alley next to an old abandoned apartment building.

"Alley Cat! It's Cheshire!" Jade calls out in a whisper and within moments an old fire escape ladder drops down in front of them.

They made their way up it and were greeted by a girl a couple years younger than Artemis.

"So you're Jade's sister, can ya' move for a second please?" were the first words out of her mouth and once Artemis complied she walked to the ladder and quickly brought it back up and locked it in place.

"Alright, no one else can get in, come on, let's go meet the guys."

They walked through the window and Alley Cat placed the plywood back over it before leading the way upstairs.

"So, has Jade told you anything about how this is going to work?"

Artemis shook her head and the younger girl grinned.

"Okay then, I'll explain. Here we are a family, we're all siblings and refer to each other as such, except for Simon but he's special. We each take turns stealing on the streets and watching Simon and at night we play vigilante and stop small crimes and stuff. Catwoman, who we call Aunt Selina, comes over to help teach us how to fight and steal and stuff. There are rules about food rations and just so you know Wally gets more 'cuz of his metabolism. Three of us are Metas; Simon, Wally, and me and if you mock any of us we won't hesitate to kick your ass just saying. I forgot to mention this to you earlier Jade but even though we don't go to school we still learn stuff. We go to the library twice a week so we don't end up completely retarded. I had to study physics to learn my powers and anatomy was good for pressure points. We all learned how to hack and we know different languages. We're gonna learn botany so we can identify poisonous plants and stuff like that and we're learning history for strategy. You'll be expected to join us but aside from math, languages, and hacking you can learn whatever interests you, you just have to learn something while we're there. If you find a new street kid that you take a liking to bring them back here and we'll give them a place to stay. Got all that?"

"Yeah, I guess, how old are you?"

"My name's Katherine and I'm nine, you can call me Kat with a 'K', Wally's eleven and he has the red hair, Dick's nine too and Simon's three-and-a-half. You'll need a name we can call you on the street so we don't recognize you. I'm Alley Cat, Wally's Velocity, Dick's Robin, Simon's Stray, and Jade chose Cheshire. She also changed her real last name which you can do if you want. What do you want to be called?"

"Artemis Crock still and…Tigress."

"Welcome to the family Tigress," Kat said with a smile as she opened the door, "you'll fit right in."

* * *

"We need a name," Wally said randomly one day while everyone was lounging around the living room.

It'd been five months since Artemis and Jade had joined their family and they fit in quite nicely. They now had a schedule where two people were always with Simon while the others were either stealing or crime-fighting. They had noticed that the Bat always started patrolling at midnight so they made sure to always be back by then and they never stole at night. Some nights they didn't go out at all, just choosing to sit around the living room and talk.

"What do you mean Baywatch?" Artemis asked; she'd started calling them that after they decided to go to one of the free public water parks and he'd used his superspeed to run into the room he shared with Dick, Kat, and Simon and change before running back out and tripping and falling spectacularly. Artemis, Dick, and Kat had started laughing hysterically while Jade rolled her eyes and Simon clapped.

"I mean we need a cool name for our group kind of like the Justice League has their name except ours would be way cooler and definitely not as cheesy."

"Like a gang name?" Kat spoke up from where she and Dick were playing chess on an old Goodwill set; they were currently tied.

"Yeah, like that," Wally said excitedly and Artemis rolled her eyes while Dick looked thoughtful.

"What about the Outlaws, you know since we're all outcasts and we break the law a lot."

"Or the Renegades!" Kat piped up and they all turned to her.

"What does renegade mean?" Wally asked looking thoughtful, he kind of like the name but if it didn't fit their group he'd veto it.

"It's a noun meaning "a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles" and we all deserted someone; Simon and I ran away and deserted our family, same with you, Artemis, and Jade. Dick deserted the government system and technically we all betrayed our principles, you know, not stealing or breaking laws and stuff so it'd fit pretty well."

"Outlaws specifically means "someone who breaks the law" and it's a synonym of outcast and criminal," Dick said.

"Yeah, that's true but we aren't just criminals, I mean we stop crime and stuff."

"Personally, I like Renegades better," Jade says and they turn to look at her before Artemis speaks.

"Yeah, Outlaws makes us sound like something from a bad Western," at her words they all think about it before agreeing.

"All in favor of Renegades raise your hand," Kat says and looks around at all of the hands, even Simon raised his hand even though he didn't know what was happening.

"Cool, welcome to the Renegades guys!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...Welcome to the Renegades


	6. Donuts and Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a cop loses their donuts and there is spandex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Jason Todd was annoyed. His dad hadn't been back from his last job for a week so there wasn't any food at the apartment so he had to go and steal some.

He sighed as he flicked the bat-a-rang open and closed as he walked before searching for his next target.

There. Police man with donuts, not the healthiest but it would fill him up and taste good which was more than he could say for most of what he had eaten in his short eight years of life. He ran by and grabbed the box just as the cop was about to open it and grab one before booking it down the street as the cop chased him. He dodged and weaved through the crowd to get away and was mildly impressed that the cop could keep up with him as he turned into a dead-end alley on accident. Glancing around and realizing his mistake he turned only to be confronted with the sight of an annoyed cop turning into the alley behind him.

"Crap!" he thought as he looked around for an escape route and noticed a pile of boxes right underneath an old fire escape ladder. He climbed up the boxes and with a little acrobatic prowess he grabbed the ladder and swung himself over the fence and away from the cursing cop.

He grabbed a donut and ate it as he walked down the street until two figures stopped him.

"That was quite impressive back there," a black haired kid a couple years older than him said and he immediately brought his guard up.

"Yup, very impressive, and quite daring too, not many people would steal from a cop, especially their donuts," the taller, and older, red head added from next to his smirking companion.

"My name's Robin, the idiot next to me ("Hey!") is Velocity, we're part of the Renegades."

"Never heard of ya," he tells them, preparing to run and "Robin" rolls his eyes.

"Of course you haven't we're not a gang, we're just a bunch of kids who watch each other's backs and share the fruit of our labor at the end of the day. All we wanted to know was if you'd like to join us, like we said, that was pretty impressive back there, 'specially for a street kid with no training."

"Haha, big words for a little bird," "Velocity" says and "Robin" rolls his eyes before smacking him upside the head with a "shut up V" before turning back to Jason.

"If you do join in we take turns stealing or watching Simon, you get protection and training, plus if you have a crappy day we always have random nonperishables so you won't miss a meal or someone else will have found something. You'll get a new codename for when we're on the streets so no one can make you go back if you don't want, we've got plenty of rooms back at base and there's always a fire in winter, you'll have to take a couple turns getting wood for though just FYI. We stay off the radar of the Bat and the Gangs 'cuz the oldest person is only fourteen. You in?"

Jason thought about it, sounded like a pretty sweet deal to him and if they were lying? Well, he could always leave and go back on his own.

"I'm in."

"What's your name?"

"…Red Hood."

* * *

They were all lounging around the living room; Jason had been there for three weeks so they weren't awkward around each other anymore; Jade had even taught them all poker.

Kat suddenly stood up and with a "be right back" walked out of the apartment while the others looked at each other and waited. They didn't have to wait very long as Kat returned with one of the cans of green paint and stood on the couch before opening the can and dipping three of her fingers in. She quickly painted a large "R" on the wall before drawing a circle around it letting the two legs of it hang outside and the others stare.

"Welcome to the Renegades," she said with a smile as she examined her work.

* * *

"We need costumes," Jason spoke up one day and they all turned to look at where he was seated upside down on one of the couches, flicking his ever-present bat-a-rang open and closed. As their family had grown they had brought up more furniture into the living room of the main room. It was midwinter, two months after Jason had joined and with Gotham being so cold they rarely ventured out. During the warmer months they made sure to stock up on food so they didn't have to venture out nearly as much and Jason had helped bring in his share. Everyone had welcomed him with open arms…the donuts he walked in with didn't hurt either.

"What do you mean "costumes"?" Kat asked from where she was cooking in the fireplace. During the summer they cooked in one of the other apartments, but winter meant they wouldn't die of heat stroke if they used the fireplace in their apartment. They also dragged all of the mattresses in there and slept in a pile of bodies for warmth in front of the fireplace.

"I mean, something other than hoodies and jeans when we go fight crime at least, it'll mean we're less likely to get hurt if we use like, Kevlar, or stuff. None of us are doctors, the only first-aid any of us know is what Aunt Selina's taught us and that's not nearly enough."

They all considered his option, he had a point, they really didn't know a lot medically although Kat had some pretty good stitches and Jade could set broken bones. The only reason none of them had been injured before was because they only went up against muggers and the like and they were in small groups and didn't actually know how to fight. The worst they'd gotten was Wally who'd broken his leg, Jade had set it and he wasn't allowed to move for a month.

"How are we going to find any of that stuff," Jade asked, she was rather interested in this idea of costumes, that was the only thing she had enjoyed about being an assassin; well, that and beating stuff up.

"I bet Aunt Selina would know, and we can go steal it and Kat can sew them. Dick can help make weapons and stuff 'cuz he's a genius and could make like, bat-a-rangs for us or stuff, though for him I think they'd be bird-a-rangs."

Wally chuckled slightly at the pun and Dick punched him but they all looked lost in thought.

"That'd be a good idea actually; I could use a whip, Dick could use, what'd you call them, bird-a-rangs? Wally wouldn't really need a lot but you could get like bolas or smoke pellets or stuff. I bet we could steal swords for Jade and Artemis and maybe even a bow, we could probably make special arrows for you too, you know, like Green Arrow and Speedy," Kat said and they all considered it, "we could be like the Justice League but cooler and kids."

"That sounds good to me, but where are we going to get all this stuff?" Jade asks looking around and Dick pipes up this time.

"I bet Aunt Selina would know where to get the material for costumes, maybe even the swords. We could probably steal a bow from some hunting store around town and trick it out. The weapons…I could hack into Star Labs or Wayne Tech or stuff like that and get the plans for them and then we could make them here out of materials from…I have no idea where we'd get the materials at."

"We could go to the junkyard and get scrap metal for the weapons. Chemicals would be a bit harder but there're a lot of shady places in Gotham to get that stuff, if nothing else I bet we could go to Blüdhaven and get them, Wally could carry someone there and back pretty quick if he wasn't able to do it himself but we all know he's a chem genius."

They all looked at him and he nodded, "yeah, I know what the stuff is and I would be able to tell if it was real."

"Well I guess that's settled then, now all we need is to go steal and hack…we sound like super-villains did you realize?" Kat said as she looked up from the stew.

"…"

* * *

It took them six months before they were able to get the material for costumes and another two before Kat finally finished up their costumes.

Alley Cat went for black and green with black pants, black boots with emerald green heels and accents at the top, a green halter top with black sleeves. She had black gloves with silver claws that extended from the end so her own claws weren't damaged. Her black mask extended from her shirt, covering her face except for her mouth and eyes which were covered by green goggles (stolen and modified) and a black cat collar with a green animal tag that said "Alley Cat". She wore her hair down and in her hybrid form with cat ears, a tail, fangs, and slit pupils. She also had a whip attached to her utility belt which held a few throwing knives, smoke pellets, bolas, and knockout pellets among other things along with a messenger bag slung across her body which housed a first-aid kit.

Robin added red and yellow to Kat's black and green and opted for a cape saying, "it'll provide protection from fire for others if nothing else" while the others just rolled their eyes. His boots were completely red and he wore black pants too. He wore a red vest over a green long-sleeved, turtleneck shirt with bulky black gloves and his home-made holo-computer and other tricks he had done to it. His cape was black on the outside and yellow on the inside and he had a yellow utility belt around his waist which held various items, so many that no one actually knew everything he had in there. All of the colors of his costume were toned down to make it easier to hide in the shadows for him and he wore a black domino mask over his eyes. He also had collapsible eskrima sticks that he had spent as much time working on as Kat did on the costumes. He was very proud.

Velocity would have gone for yellow and red until he was reminded that that would make him a walking talking target in Gotham so he added a lot more black to the original idea. Black boots, red pants, and a black long-sleeved shirt that went up into a mask like Kat's ended up being his second choice. Dark yellow climbed up his sides and into his inner arms and continued onto the palms of his black gloves. Compartments in his sleeves held food and a small belt at his waist held a couple smoke and knock out pellets along with a couple throwing knives, though not many.

Cheshire wore a short green kimono that stopped just above her knees over black pants and knee high black boots. She wore a long-sleeved black shirt that had green cloth wrapped around the sleeves and black gloves. She had Sais strapped to her waist and had shuriken and kunai hidden on her person, they didn't actually know where. She also wore a sword slung across her back and a mask which she had personally made, it made Simon cry the first time he saw it.

Tigress wore an orange bodysuit with a black torso and black stripes along the arms and black fingerless gloves. She had a quiver on her back and wore a sword on the opposite shoulder. She had throwing knives and other things in the pouches strapped to her thighs and wore a mask slightly similar to Cheshire's but different coloring and it showed her mouth.

Red Hood wore a simple black body suit with black gloves and black combat boots. He wore a red zip-up hoodie over a leather jacket over the body suit and wore a belt at his waist with weapons like Dick's except instead of eskrima sticks he had two paintball guns. He also wore a domino mask.

They all had the Renegades symbol Kat had painted on the wall somewhere on their costumes. Alley Cat had a black R with just the outline of black circle on her left side just above her waist. Robin had a yellow R on a black background over his heart. Velocity had a yellow R and the outline of a red circle in the middle of his chest. Cheshire had a symbol like Alley Cat's on the bottom right of her kimono. Tigress had a black R on an orange circle on the backs of both of her gloves. Red Hood's hoodie when zipped up displayed a black R and circle outline.

"You are an amazing seamstress Alley Cat," Velocity says as he speeds around the room examining his new costume.

"Thanks, I had Robin hack the Justice League for the designs on your boots, I found what the Flash uses so they reduce friction and shouldn't wear out as easily."

"SWEET!"

"You did a good job Alley," Cheshire says before pulling on her mask, "now, who wants to go try out their new costumes?"


	7. In Which Speedy is Beat up by Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rather self-explanatory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Speedy was patrolling Gotham. How you ask? Green Arrow and Batman had teamed up once several of their villains had teamed up with the Bat's. Batman, however, had deemed it too dangerous for the fourteen year old and had told him to go on patrol and be careful. Green Arrow hadn't said anything except that it was Batman's city and he hardly let anyone in so he should listen to him.

He looked down over the edge of the roof and was about to jump in to stop the mugging he saw (fifth one in the last hour, he'd heard Gotham was bad but this was ridiculous) when two figures dropped down from the roof opposite him and quickly took out the men. The smaller blonde figure stayed over their unconscious forms for several seconds and stood up and walked over to their companion holding wallets and knives and that was when he dropped in just in time to hear.

"I got the cash and a couple new knives Cheshire," then they noticed him.

The blonde, he saw, had a bow in hand and quiver strapped over her back while the darker hair one had Sais in hand. They were both girls and the one called Cheshire looked to be his age while the blonde looked a few years younger.

"Who are you?" Speedy demanded aiming his bow at them as the blonde stowed the cash and aimed her own arrow at him.

"We could ask you the same question; what's Green Arrow's side-kick doing all the way in Gotham," Cheshire demanded and he immediately bristled.

"I'm not his side-kick, I'm his partner."

"Whatever you say cowboy, Tigress, let's go," with that smoke filled the alley and by the time it disappeared all he saw was shadows disappearing over the rooftops which he immediately followed.

For an hour the chase over the rooftops went on until he lost sight of them. Looking around he thought he saw a shadow move and decided to follow it stealthily. After a while he found himself overlooking an abandoned apartment building and was just about to give up when the two girls stepped out of the shadows.

"Think we lost him Cheshire?" Tigress asked and he hid as Cheshire looked around.

"Yeah, I think so, Red Hood, can you let us in?"

He looked down just in time to see a kid several years younger than him come out onto the fire escape from a boarded up window on the third floor.

"What's the magic word?" he taunted.

"How about if you don't let us in now we'll hide your guns?" Cheshire responded but he could hear the slight smile in her voice.

"That works too." With those words the kid moves a pipe and the ladder falls down, "you two are the last ones, the others are already inside and I think Alley Cat stole something sweet since the Bat was occupied."

"What do you mean?" Tigress asked as she waited for Cheshire to climb up.

"Rumor has it that some Star City villains showed up in town and so Green Arrow and the side-kick showed up to help the Bat, she said that she actually saw them heading to the docks earlier so she knew they'd be otherwise occupied."

With those final words the kid pulls up the ladder and stops it and the three of them head inside before covering the window back up.

Speedy waits five minutes before using a grappling arrow to swing over there and remove the plywood before stepping into the window before it all goes dark.

* * *

Speedy woke up to the feeling of warmth, a hard chair, and rope as he slowly blinked the world back into alignment.

"Good, Sleeping Beauty's awake," a voice says and that's when he realizes he's tied to a chair in the abandoned apartment building without his mask.

Great.

He looks up to see he's surrounded by kids, the oldest his age at the most.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" he demands and he gets a feeling Cheshire is smirking at him beneath her mask.

"You really should be asking yourself that question, why would we know why you followed us? And to answer your other question you are currently at Renegade HQ, I'm Cheshire, that's Tigress, Robin, Velocity, Red Hood, Alley Cat, and Stray's around here somewhere," she points to each person as they're named and he notes that Red Hood is the one who let them in.

"I followed you because you're a thief; you stole that guy's money."

"That mugger's money you mean, and that's the least of what we stole. That doesn't answer my question though, why did you follow us?"

"You guys are thieves and I'm a hero, it's my job to send you to jail," Speedy says and they all roll their eyes, or he thinks they do anyways.

"Well, well, we got a real boy scout here didn't we? We only steal so we can survive and to make up for it we fight crime at night, like that mugging earlier, hence the costumes," Alley Cat says and he notices the cat ears and tail.

"What do you mean so you can survive?" he asks and they all start laughing.

"Do you really think any of us like what we have to do? We're all here because we have nowhere else to go and we do what we can to survive. I was kicked out with my brother for being a Meta, same with Velocity. Robin was nearly sent to Juvie for no reason and the list goes on."

Speedy, Roy without the mask, looked at Velocity, "you're a Meta?"

"Yeah," Velocity nods, "I'm a speedster, Alley and Stray are Metas two but they aren't speedsters."

Roy blinks, "are you by any chance related to a Barry Allen?"

"Yeah, he's my uncle. Why?"

"Your uncle is the Flash; I guess it runs in families."

Velocity's jaw drops at this statement, "My…my uncle is the Flash? He was my hero growing up!" he exclaims before his tone turns bitter, "some hero he turned out to be, couldn't even tell his favorite nephew was being abused."

"Look, I'm sorry that you all had crappy childhoods but I can't just let you go. I'm a hero!" Speedy says and again they roll their eyes (he really can't tell under the masks and goggles but he's pretty sure they do).

"Yeah well, there's not much you can do right now is there? We have your weapons and Robin hacked your trackers so they're all gone, your communicator's hacked too so you can't call for help Mr. Harper," Cheshire says and he can just hear her gloating smirk.

"Ollie's going to kill me," he groaned, letting his head hit back on the chair.

"Listen Roy, we don't like hurting people; we don't kill, we don't steal big things, and whenever we can we help people. We won't tell anyone your secret ID but please don't tell anyone about us, if you do they'll take us back and we don't want that. We have family here now, and I don't know about the others but I like this family more than I ever did my old one. In my old family my twin sister had a knife to my throat when we were four and I don't want to go back, especially with Simon."

Everyone looks at Alley Cat in shock; it appeared that no one had known that little tidbit and the puppy dog eyes he could see since her goggles were pushed up onto her forehead were making it hard to say no.

"Fine, I won't tell," he sighed to cheers from the others and Cheshire untied him quickly.

"Sorry about that by the way, we didn't know what you would do when you woke up though," Robin said, gesturing to the ropes.

"Its fine, it was the smart thing to do. Where's my stuff by the way?"

At his words his bow, quiver, and mask are all brought back, along with several weapons he had hidden.

"Hey, you wanna join our family?" Alley Cat piped up and everyone turned to stare at her, "I don't mean stay here with us and steal stuff, I mean we could be like friends or something; if you ever need help you could call us and vice versa."

He thought about it for a moment; they had taken him down, they could fight, they were good at stealth, they had good weapons and costumes, they wanted to help others and he wouldn't need to be that worried about them in a fight.

"Yeah, sure, we can be friends," he said and Velocity and Robin smiled and cheered.

"You'll need a name thought, we don't want to call you Speedy when you're with us since we're bad and I bet your mentor won't like that. You got any ideas?" Tigress spoke up this time and he blinked; he hadn't thought of that.

"Um…what about Red Arrow?"

"Okay Red Arrow, I'm Katherine but you can call me Kat for short, that's Richard or Dick, Wallace, Wally, Jade, Artemis, and Jason."

He nodded as they all took their masks off before a little kid toddled into the room, "That's Simon, he's my brother."

He stared, "why is he on the street."

"Weren't you paying attention Red? Kat's parents kicked her out," Cheshire said with a growl and a glare, not at Roy though.

"What? Why would they kick out a kid and a baby?!"

"They didn't like Metas," Kat said softly before walking over to the kid who crowed "Mama!" as she did so.

"Welcome to the Renegades Red Arrow," Wally says with a grin but it's subdued; no one liked that reminder.

* * *

Oliver was worried, he and Batman had taken down the villains pretty quickly and afterwards he had attempted to contact Roy to no reply. He figured that he was busy fighting or sulking from not being allowed to fight the villains so he had gone to the rendezvous point; they were supposed to meet up pretty soon anyways. One a.m. came and passed and still Roy didn't show so he tried contacting him again…no reply. He pulled out his tracker but he couldn't find Roy's location anywhere.

After a half-hour of frantic searching with the Bat Roy finally picked up his communicator, "Yeah Green Arrow, what's up?"

"What's up? WHAT'S UP?! YOU DON'T PICK UP YOUR COMMUNICATOR FOR HOURS AND YOU ASK ME WHAT'S UP?!" he screamed into the communicator and he could almost hear Roy's wince.

"Yeah, sorry about that; there were these kids, and I couldn't just hurt a bunch of kids, and they ganged up on me and knocked me out after I caught one of them stealing. I, honestly, have absolutely no idea where I am in Gotham right now," Roy says and Ollie blinks.

"What do you mean kids?"

"Street kids, orphans and runaways and such, I saw one of them stealing and I went down there to stop them but I couldn't exactly hurt them, they're kids for crying out loud, so I just went to talk to them and they freaked out and knocked me out and here we are."

"…I'll track your communicator."

"Thanks."

*giggles* "You got beat up by a bunch of kids."

"SHUT UP OLLIE!"


	8. How is He Not Cold?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's winter in Gotham once more so why in the world is there someone swimming in Gotham Harbor and more importantly HOW IS HE NOT COLD?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Kaldur'ahm was swimming; swimming far, far away from the city he had called his home for so long. He couldn't take it, not anymore. The names, the insults, the bullying; all because of who his father was and he was tired of it, so he left; left the city that was his home and would soon leave the water that was his mother. He would go to land, he'd heard many tales of it and no one would look for a runaway Atlantean on dry land; it was perfect.

The ocean was getting shallower, he could see the ocean floor and surface at the same time and it was exhilarating, something new that the fourteen year old Atlantean had never experienced before. He placed his feet on the ground and stuck his head above the surface and looked around and saw a sign. It was written in the language of the surface dwellers so it took him a moment to translate and never had he been more relieved that he had opted to learn the "English" that some surface dwellers spoke.

Gotham…Harbor. Interesting, his king had told stories of this Gotham City and its corrupt ways and how it was so crime infested the only hero to bother with it was the Batman. He had been warned away from it which made this place perfect; even if they looked for him on land they would never expect him to be in Gotham City.

He swam forward and walked onto the beach, it was so odd walking instead of swimming and being surrounded by air instead of water, he was excited.

* * *

The Renegades had decided to take a break; it was freezing cold outside in Gotham in February but someone had had the bright idea to come to the docks to see it there were any crates for firewood and all of them were seriously regretting it and seriously jealous of Jason who was home with Simon; lucky kid sitting under blankets in front of the fire.

Velocity shook his head and continued his search before something out in the water caught his eye. He turned around and saw nothing but continued watching for a moment and was rewarded as a dark skinned boy with blonde hair, grey eyes, tattoos and odd silver sticks on his back walked out of the water and onto land.

' _How is he not cold?_ ' he exclaimed in his head and immediately went to inform Robin who he was searching with, the eleven year-old didn't look much better off in the cold than he was but he seemed intrigued by the idea of the not-freezing-swimmer-dude, it was much more interesting than searching for firewood anyways so they made their way over there in time to see the guy, he looked around Velocity's age, maybe a year or two older, climb onto the docks.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Robin called out and the guy looked startled as he spun to look at them, "Are you okay?"

"…Yes, I am fine, thank you for asking," he said in an oddly formal tone that caused Velocity to blink and Robin to raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you didn't just climb out of Gotham Harbor in the middle of the coldest February I can currently recall or anything, nothing odd going on here," Robin said sarcastically and the guy stiffened, "so what are you; runaway, orphan, abandoned, lost?"

"My mother is dead, I never knew my father and the people who took me in did not treat me kindly," the kid replied bluntly and Robin furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"So you're like a half-orphan, half-abandoned, runaway? That's a first. You got a place to stay?"

"What do you mean?" the guy asked slowly and Velocity was beginning to wonder if English was his first language, he was very formal and slow in replying as if he had to translate what they were saying and search for the right words.

"He means do you have anywhere to sleep tonight? Anything to eat? If not we might be able to give you a place there'll be a couple rules and we'll need to know your story but don't worry we won't judge. Two of us were raised by assassins and three of us are Metas," Velocity said bluntly and the guy blinked.

"I am Kaldur'ahm of Atlantis; my father was Black Manta the criminal…"

"Let me guess, the others didn't like your Dad so they took it out on you," Cheshire called as she made her way over there, Tigress in tow.

"Yes," Kaldur'ahm said, looking down in shame.

"Don't worry, we won't hold it against you, we're all outcasts here," Alley Cat said jumping down from the nearest pile of crates and moving to stand next to her brother Robin, "we call ourselves the Renegades, we steal to provide for ourselves but to make up for it we fight crime at night…I just realized we're hypocrites, did you know?" Alley Cat said looking thoughtful and they all blinked.

"Huh, guess I never really thought of it that way before," Tigress said and the others shrugged before turning back to their new friend.

"Whaddya say, wanna join, you'll have family if you want, friends if you don't, we take care of each other, watch each other's back, and all bullying is done in jest." Robin announced loudly waving his hands in the air like the performer he was.

"…I…I think I would like that," Kaldur'ahm said and they all smiled.

"You'll need a name though for when we're out on the streets so people don't recognize you."

"Tempest…you can call me Tempest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately it got to be rather late last night so here we are the next morning still posting chapters. I hope you enjoy my story lovelies  
> ~Miss Claw


	9. Projects Kr and Side-kick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick was hacking a lab called PHOENIX one day and makes an interesting discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Dick was hacking, like he normally did, sitting in a random café with free wifi while Wally spent twenty dollars on snacks. He had gotten several weapons blueprints from the internet, STAR labs, Wayne Tech, Queen Industries, even the Justice League and the goddamn Batman couldn't keep him out of their servers, not that they realized they should be trying to. Currently he was hacking Phoenix Labs in Blüdhaven, he knew they were a genetics lab but there was no telling what else they might do on the side so he kept hacking until his eyes widened as he read over the information he was getting.

Project Kr

Project Side-kick

From what he could tell they had cloned not only Superman but the Speedy they had met was actually a clone and the real Speedy was still being held at the facility.

"Wally," he hissed at the redhead, "we need to go now!"

Wally looked up and, seeing his expression, nodded and finished up the last of his food before throwing their trash away while Dick packed up his stolen and tricked out laptop before they made their way back to the apartment. It was lunch so everyone was here and Dick shared his news.

"I was hacking this lab over in Blüdhaven to see if they had any tech ideas I could borrow but…well I found something else. They're cloning, they cloned Superman and they cloned Speedy, the one we met was the clone but based on the information I skimmed he doesn't know it and the real one is still there."

Silence met his statement as they all digested that tidbit.

"What do you want us to do about it Dick?" Jason asked and Dick sighed.

"We can't just leave them there, I say we go break them out and wipe all the files they have on them so they can't do this again. Apparently the clone, Project Kr, is physically and mentally eighteen years but is really only eighteen weeks."

"How would we get over to Blüdhaven in the first place even if we did help them," Kat spoke up from where she was sitting feeding Simon.

"The Justice League has zeta-beams all over the place remember?" he asked and she looked thoughtful, she had hacked the Justice League and Batman just as much as he did but she left all the labs and such to him, she just wanted information on the villains.

"How would we get into the place?" Jade asked and in response he brought up a floor-plan of the building with two spots highlighted.

"This is a map of the place, I've highlighted where the real Speedy is and where Project Kr is."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are we going to do this?" Jason demanded and everyone looked at him.

"It's the right thing to do Jay, it would help us make up for a bit, plus Roy…well clone Roy is our friend and I bet he's been programmed to act just like real Roy so no one is suspicious so we'd probably be friends with real Roy too," Dick said and everyone looked thoughtful.

"I believe we should help them," Kaldur said and everyone looked at him.

"I agree," Kat added and eventually everyone put in their agreement, even Jason after a moment of thought.

"Alright how are we going to do this?" Kat asked and everyone turned to Dick and Kaldur, they were the best strategists after all.

"Well I had a rough idea…"

* * *

The plan went off without a hitch; currently they were standing in front of the real Roy Harper a.k.a. Speedy with heavy hearts as they saw his missing right arm.

"It says taken for DNA samples," Robin spits out and they all look angry.

"Let him out, we can deal with his arm later, I'll deal with getting him on his feet, you guys go release Project Kr and we'll meet you up top," Alley Cat said and moved to stand in front of the pod to catch him as Robin let him out before the others ran off. Red Hood was home with Stray but everyone else had wanted to free their possibly friend.

"Wha…What happened? Ollie?" Roy groaned as Alley Cat sat on the floor cross-legged and leaned her back against the pod, laying Roy's head in her lap as she did so.

"No, I'm sorry he's not here, my name's Alley Cat, you were captured by a genetics lab called Phoenix who used your right arm to make a clone. I'm sorry," she said running her fingers through his short hair as he slowly woke up.

"What do you mean," he asked groggily before sitting up and seeing his arm, "…No, please tell me this is some sort of sick joke, please."

"I'm sorry," she said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind, "we need to go now, we kind of snuck in and we don't have enough man power to fight our way out."

He stiffened and turned to face her, "Who are you?"

"I'm Alley Cat, I'm part of a group that call ourselves the Renegades, we're based in Gotham, we aren't actually heroes we're just a bunch of street-kids that steal to sustain ourselves and to make up for it we fight crime at night. Robin was hacking Phoenix to see if they had any ideas on how to upgrade our weapons when we came across your files. We know the clone they made, he doesn't even realize he's a clone and when we told him he felt horrible for stealing your life and wanted to help rescue you but we didn't want you to freak out."

"So…so Ollie, I mean Green Arrow didn't come rescue me? It was just a bunch of kids who found out and decided to come rescue me because they met my clone?!"

"To be fair Mr. Queen doesn't know and we already know your identity, we kind of knocked your clone out when we first met and unmasked him 'cuz he was following Cheshire and Tigress. But Green Arrow doesn't know, when you were kidnapped he spent two months searching for you but found your clone and immediately thought it was you so it wasn't his fault."

"But he's Green Arrow! He works with the League, hell; he works with the GODDAMN BATMAN! HOW DID A BUNCH OF KIDS FIND OUT BEFORE THEM?!"

Alley Cat flinched and looked around but it didn't look like anyone had heard the outburst, "Ssh, enemy territory here and to be fair Phoenix looks really clean from the outside."

"I don't give a damn, if Ollie doesn't care about me then the clone can have my life, I'm done."

"…At least come stay with us then, we might be able to build you a new arm, I can hack tech labs to find plans or stuff and Robin and Velocity can build it, they're science geniuses, or is it genii? Anyways we need to get out of here now. Oh, and tell your clone that you don't hate him for taking your life, he took it really hard when we told him."

He looks at her with hope blatantly displayed on his face, "do you…do you really think you guys could build me a new arm?"

She nods with a smile, "Yeah, it might not be the most beautiful thing, or even really good at first but like I said Robin and Velocity are geniuses and they'll figure it out."

He nods, "alright then, let's go."

* * *

The rest of the Renegades arrived at Project Kr and stood in front of the pod for a moment before Tempest spoke, "Robin, free him."

"Got it boss," he said with a mock-salute before hacking the pod's controls and eventually it opens. They stand and wait for any sign of movement from the clone but there is none and so they turn to Tempest.

"What now? We can't leave him and I don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon," Cheshire said and Tempest thought for a moment before Robin spoke.

"Aren't Atlantians stronger than average humans?" at Tempest's nod he continues, "well, why doesn't Tempest carry him and the rest of us will work on getting us out of here? You aren't really needed to take care of the security system anyways and it's the middle of the night so no one should be here and if anyone is I'll know it before-hand and we can hide, same with Alley Cat. We can worry about waking Kr when we get out to the wilderness just in case he wakes up cranky," he smirks at the last part while the others consider his plan.

"That is a good idea Robin, let's go," Tempest says before grabbing Kr and they run to the door, on the elevator they run into Alley Cat who has Roy's good arm over her shoulders and helping him walk.

"Hey Rob; think you could make him a new arm out of your tech?"

He thinks about it for a moment before replying, "I think I saw plans for a prototype for some guy named Stone, I could get them and experiment, it might take a while, especially with what we have to work with, but I think eventually we could get something."

"Told ya' he's a genius," Alley Cat smirks to Roy who rolls his eyes in reply.

"Whatever."

* * *

Eventually they made it out and to the wilderness, Robin may have been joking but they really didn't know what Phoenix had done to the poor guy so it would be better to wake him up away from civilians. They had gotten side-tracked exactly three times; once to destroy the Big Blue Boy Scout's DNA, twice to destroy Roy Harper's DNA ("two of me is enough thank you very much"), thrice to download all data and delete all info on Projects Kr and Side-kick ("I was his Partner" "Whatever you say cowboy").

Tempest, now Kaldur, slowly drizzled water onto Kr's face and they all stood back as he slowly awoke and took in his surroundings with wide eyes.

"Where…where am I?" he asked and Tempest spoke.

"You are with friends."

Kr continued to examine his surroundings in awe as the rest of the Renegades (minus Roy and Kat who were sitting together while he rested and she explained their family) walked forwards.

"We are the Renegades, we found out about you through my hacking and decided that you shouldn't grow up in a pod, you deserved to be free just like the rest of us, not some Phoenix play-toy, you're your own being, not a thing," Robin spoke and everyone except Kr who was still looking around looked at him in surprise.

"But…Phoenix is my home," Kr replied confused, "I owe my life to Phoenix."

*snorts* "Phoenix was never your home, Home is where people who love you eagerly await your return and Phoenix was never anything more than the thing that created you for their own sick desires," Kat calls out from across the clearing and Kr turns to look at him and her expression softens, "my name is Katherine and I'd like to offer you a home, with our family, as our new brother."

"Brother…I…I think I'd like that," he whispers and they all smile.

"We'll need something to call you, Kr can be your code-name but you need a real name, I'm Katherine, this is Roy, that's Wally, Kaldur, Dick, Artemis, Jade, and Jason and Simon are at home. What would you like your name to be?"

"I don't know."

"What about Christopher," Artemis asks and when they look at her she shrugs.

"Yeah, you could be Christopher Kent, like that reporter guy from the Daily Planet," Wally adds and Kr considers it.

"I think I'd like that."

"Welcome to the family Kr and Arsenal, may you live long and prosper," groans follow Kat's terrible joke and Wally and Dick throw grass at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we've met another OC, Chris. Now, I know Superboy's real name is Connor however if you notice this isn't Superboy, this is Kr, who was PHOENIX's (which will resurrect as CADMUS yes) successful attempt at cloning Superman. He'll be like something of an older brother to Superboy when I do get around to introducing him. Also for those of you who do not know Stone is Victor Stone, a.k.a. Cyborg's, last name. I figured since we see Cyborg in season 2 his Dad had to be as well. His Dad created his prosthetics and tested them on him after he suffered a freak accident. Toodle-loo lovelies  
> ~Miss Claw


	10. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into post-escape nightmares and Ray's reaction to being a clone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Kat was still up late reading a book, they had just arrived back from rescuing Roy and Chris and Ray (what Roy's clone had decided to go by among them to differentiate himself from real Roy) had just left via hacked zetas.

Everyone else was asleep in their own rooms, Dick and Wally's nightmares had become occasional occurrences at night so they had split up; Wally and Dick sharing a room but separate beds, Simon and Kat sharing a bed in their original room, Jade and Artemis shared a room but Kaldur, Chris, and Roy had each opted for their own rooms, there was definitely room for it and with three people with above average strength it was easy to move the stray or stolen mattresses (from other abandoned apartment buildings (they cleaned them up and got some of those mattress cover things) into the rooms.

So while everyone else slept she flipped through her book on common battle strategies borrowed *coughstolencough* from the library when she heard the first shout. It wasn't coming from Wally and Dick's room so it wasn't either of their nightmares so she walked out of the apartment she shared with Jade and Artemis and took a left past Kaldur and Chris's apartment and came to a stop at Roy's. Honestly she was surprised no one else had awoken but it had been a busy day for everyone she supposed as she pushed the door open and walked into the living room and heard another shout from the bedroom.

She slowly opened the door to see Roy tossing and turning under the blankets, sweat soaking his face as he moved and she considered for a second before walking in and crouching on the floor next to him.

"Roy," she said shaking his shoulder and jumped back when he nearly punched her in the face, "well that's not gonna work."

She watched for a moment to see if he would wake up on his own before sighing and sitting on his legs while grabbing his wrist in one hand.

"Roy, wake up it's just a dream," she said and he gasped and bolted upright nearly knocking into her, "you alright now?"

"Kat? What's going on? Why are you sitting on me?"

"You were having a nightmare and I tried to wake you up but you very nearly punched me in the face so I pinned you so I didn't end up black and blue. You okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry about punching you," he muttered and lay back down after Kat let go of his wrists.

"It's okay, you were having a nightmare and you aren't the first. Dick and Wally both had nightmares really bad of what happened before, we ended up sharing a mattress for a year or two until their nightmares got better but they still share a room just in case. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, can you get off of me please?" he asked and she rolled her eyes before rolling off of him and flopping down on the mattress next to him.

"Whatever you say Roy, goodnight."

"What are you doing?" he asked looking at her curled up form next to him.

"I'm lazy, I don't feel like moving back to my room so you're stuck with me for the night, sorry, but I don't snore or kick or move around a lot, Wally's the worst at that," she said looking over at him, "I had bruises for months to prove it, stupid speedster you have to cuddle right up next to him to make him stop."

He stares at her back and she sighs before turning to look at him, "I'm not moving so you might as well stop, we need rest. Oh, and Simon'll probably show up at some point, he always manages to find me."

He blinks, "Whatever, goodnight Kat."

"'Night Roy."

* * *

In the morning Roy woke up to the feeling of warmth at his side and above him and it took him a moment before he remembered where he was and what had happened. Kat lay next to him with her head on his chest and her arms wrapped around him, Simon lay curled above the two of them with his bear and a blanket.

He blinked at how comfortable the situation felt before moving out from under Kat accidentally waking her up.

"Huh? Oh, morning Roy," she yawned and rubbed her eyes before pulling Simon into her lap, "told ya' he'd find me. Did you have any more nightmares?"

"No actually, I didn't, not after you woke me up."

"Well that's good, I'm going to go get dressed, later," she said and walked out, carrying a still sleeping Simon with her.

"That girl is weird, but in a good way, I guess."

* * *

**A/N: This is before the beginning of the chapter but I couldn't really find a way to fit it in so here some Jade/ Clone!Roy fluff**

"Hey Ray, you okay?" Jade asked as she sat on the rooftop next to him.

"Yeah," he says, words muffled by his knees, "I'm peachy."

"You're a terrible liar," she says exasperatedly, rolling her eyes as he looks up at her with swollen eyes.

"Why? Why does he forgive me? I stole his life! He lost his arm because of me! He lost two years of his life! He should hate me…why doesn't he hate me?" he mutters turning back to bury his face in his knees as Jade blinks at him before wrapping her arms around him.

"He doesn't hate you because he realizes it's not your fault, it's the people at PHOENIX's fault not yours," she consoles but he shakes her off.

"Yes it is! I stole his life, if it wasn't for me he would still have an arm, still be Speedy, he would still have a Dad, all I am is just a cheap replacement who stole his life."

"No you're not," she growls angrily, "You are your own person, you may be the same person genetically but you have different experiences, experiences that he will never have, and that's what makes you different. The same goes for him. You may share early memories and DNA but you're two different people Ray."

He turns to look at her and gives her a small smile, "thanks, I…I think I needed that."

"No prob."

"…Do you think Ollie'll hate me when he finds out I replaced his partner?"

"I don't think he'll hate you since you didn't know, he'll probably be pissed at the PHOENIX people though."

* * *

Atlantian skin was much tougher than a human's meaning Tempest didn't need a uniform, so was Kryptonian- even half-Kryptonian- so Kr didn't' need one either. Arsenal already had a uniform, he was still wearing it even after being podded, but Kat still made them, although Tempest and Kr's were regular clothes and Arsenal's was just modified.

Tempest got black pants and boots and a long-sleeve blue pullover hoodie with a domino mask to hide his gills and tattoos. His water-bearers were attached to holsters on his arms and he a silver R in a black circle outline on the back of his hoodie.

Kr's costume was much the same as Tempest's with slight differences. His zip-up hoodie was black over a plain white T-shirt; he wore black cargo pants over black combat boots. He also had a domino mask and his red R in a red circle outline was on his left shoulder.

Arsenal's costume changed a lot. Instead of the bright colors she added more black and got rid of the yellow completely, also darkening the red. He got black boots and pants, and a dark-red long sleeve shirt with black designs and black fingerless gloves. She threw the hat in the burn pile and changed the belt to black. He kept the domino mask though. In his belt she put things he could use with one arm until Robin (who was excused from patrol and stealing unless he wanted to) finished his arm including a cross bow, knives, smoke/ knock-out pellets, a grappling hook, and bolas. His white R on filled in black circle would go on his arm.

"Has anyone ever told you you're an amazing seamstress?" Arsenal asked as he examined himself in the bathroom mirror they had managed to clean.

"Velocity did," Alley Cat said from her place leaning on the doorframe and he turned and gave her a rare smile.

"Well he wasn't exaggerating."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now our team is almost complete, just two more street kids and into YJ we go. Thank you for sticking with me on this story and I apologize for not having the rest of it up, I'll try to get a bit more up before school gets back in.   
> ~Miss Claw


	11. Broken Arrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bullying is harmful to everyone, even aliens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

J'ann M'orzz was silent as she crept onto her Uncle's Bio-Ship. She had to get away from Mars; she was sick and tired of all the mocking and hatred she received, just because she was a White Martian. She hid in the back of her Uncle's ship and carefully shielded her mind so he would not detect her presence and waited.

After a while her Uncle finally showed up and after a short check of the ship they were off and she was away from Mars, hopefully forever. She felt a pang of sadness for what she was leaving behind, her younger also White Martian sister M'gann, but she was too young, she couldn't control her powers fully yet and so she couldn't risk bringing her with in case she accidentally revealed them too soon.

She had a plan though, hide until they reached Earth and then ask her Uncle to take her on as his protégé, since they were already at Earth he wouldn't be able to send her back, at least not for a while, and then in a few years once M'gann had complete control over her powers she could ask her Uncle to allow M'gann to come to Earth too, if not as a superhero then as a civilian just to get away from the torment they lived through on Mars.

She waited through the whole ride to Earth, making sure her Uncle never saw her, she had talked to the Bio-ship and it had decided to help her; she was sentient.

When she felt them land she waited until her Uncle left before removing the block on her mind before, suddenly, her Uncle stood before her.

"I suspected I might have had a stowaway," he said in a monotone and she flinched.

"Please Uncle J'onn, I can't go back, they just make fun of me because I'm a White Martian, please, let me stay, I'll do anything, I'll hide my powers, just please don't send me back!"

"I am sorry J'ann, but you cannot stay, not only are your parents unaware that you are here but the Justice League will not like you being here," he said and her hopes shattered as she fell to her knees, "I am sorry J'ann, I will return shortly, for now I must inform the League of the reason for my continued absence."

With those words he left and she began to cry, she simply couldn't believe it, all of her dreams of getting away from the prejudice of Mars and becoming a hero were crushed before she remembered, the Bio-ship!

Quickly she contacted her telepathically and explained the situation to her. After a moment of consideration the 'ship agreed and telepathically sent the location of a city to her before opening the bay doors and allowing her to escape to Earth.

"I wonder what Gotham City will be like?"

* * *

Roy Harper was pissed, like, really pissed. Not only had Phoenix taken away his arm and ruined his life, but they had implanted something in, not only his mind, but Chris and Ray's minds as well to control them. Dick had found out the other day when he was going through the files to discover why Chris didn't have all of the powers of Superman, although they expected he might get a few more powers as he aged. They had no idea what to do to get rid of it short of going to the League and asking the Martian to get rid of them but for now they were waiting until Ray arrived later that night so they could tell him about it and figure out what to do.

Instead of sitting around while Dick and Wally searched for ways to fix it, Chris stared off into space, and the others worried he had decided to take a walk around Gotham with his new arm. Dick and Wally had finished it about a month ago and spent the next three weeks testing it with him to make sure it worked, there were some bugs to work out still but for the most part it was like he had his arm back again, although he had to charge this one. That was the reason it had taken so long for Dick to research Chris's powers, Kat didn't have the time with covering Dick's shifts along with her own and watching Simon (not to mention she was one of the few of them that could cook although she was teaching the others) so she couldn't look through the stuff from Phoenix and none of the others could actually understand it (something they had since spent a lot of time in the library attempting to remedy).

He had announced to them that he was going for a walk and to use the communicator Robin had built if Ray arrived before he got back. They had all agreed although Kat was giving him some odd looks and about a block away from HQ he figured out why, she was following him. As they walked he grew angrier and angrier as he realized that she probably thought he was going to turn on them or something and after about half-an-hour he finally turned around and glared at the spot he knew she was and watched as she walked up to him before he pulled her into the alley.

"Why are you following me? Do you think I'm going to go report to Phoenix or something?" he hissed as he glared at her and she blinked in surprise, looking genuinely shocked.

"Why in the world would I think that? Honestly I saw you weren't taking the fact that even though Phoenix is gone they still have so much influence over your life and I was afraid you were going to go do something stupid and get yourself hurt," she stated and he blinked at her bluntness.

"What did you think I was going to do?" he asked, slowly calming down as he realized she did still trust him.

"I don't know, go beat someone up or be a smart ass to the wrong person probably," she said before blinking and leaning slightly to the left and looking over his shoulder further into the alley, "…Hi."

He whirled around and saw a girl, probably Chris's age with long dark brown hair, not as dark as Jade's though, reddish-brown eyes, pale skin, and freckles standing further in the alley.

"Hello," she said shyly and he had to blink, what the hell was she doing in the alley? She definitely wasn't a runaway since she was so shy her clothes weren't tatty.

"What are you doing?" he asked confused and she blushed slightly before looking away.

"I…kinda…live here?" she stated, more like questioned, but he was too busy wondering how she was still so shy.

"Oh…do you need a place to live?" Kat asked and he turned to look back at her incredulously before he remembered who had just spoken and sighed in exasperation and turned back to New-Girl who was blushing again and managed to stammer out.

"N…no, I'm fine."

"I don't believe you," Kat deadpanned, "come on, you can stay with us there's plenty of room and we can explain the rules on the way." She turned and led the way out of the alley New-Girl trailing behind, "what's your name anyway?"

"Umm…Joann," she said and Kat nodded before turning back to him.

"You coming Roy?" she asked and he blinked before sighing and following, that was just what Kat did, taking in Strays, it was how their family was so big.

* * *

Ray was not having a good day, he'd overslept for school, hadn't done his homework the night before because of patrol so he had gotten chewed out by his teachers twice, not to mention sprained his ankle on patrol causing Ollie to ban him from patrol for the night so he could recover. He'd already finished his homework and was plopped on the couch in front of the TV when the comm. Robin had given him went off and he saw a message asking him to come over and that it was important. He had then informed Ollie that he was going to spend the night at a friend's house before packing a bag. He had passed Ollie on the way back down who had asked the names of these friends (Dick, Wally, and Dick's sister Kat, you know the ginger and the black-haired kid with the blue eyes?) before nodding and wishing him a good time as he prepared for patrol. He had stopped by the kitchen and grabbed some food, they had some there but they always appreciated when he brought food over with him, they had a hard enough time feeding themselves especially since they had found Roy and Chris.

He snuck into the Zeta in the Arrow Cave (he still found the name retarded and Roy had laughed his ass off for a good ten minutes when he found out what Ollie had finally named the place) and quickly plugged in Dick's little device which hacked the Zeta's before pulling it out and Zeta-ing to the old telephone booth a block away from the apartment. As he walked down the street he saw Kat walking side-by-side with someone he didn't recognize while Roy trailed slightly behind the two looking exasperated and he chuckled to himself as he realized Kat had found another stray before jogging across the street to walk next to Roy.

"Who's Kat's new friend?" he asked and Roy rolled his eyes before replying, "Joann I think, honestly I don't know why she's out here, she's really shy and look at her clothes."

He did as instructed and noticed they weren't fancy, jeans a T-shirt, and a jean jacket but they were clean and not frayed.

"Hmm…maybe she hasn't been out here long?" he asked more than stated and Roy just shrugged.

"Dunno, but Kat likes her and you know Kat so here we are."

"Figures, why'd you guys call me anyways?" he asks and Roy frowns before speaking.

"It's about Phoenix and what they did to us," he says and Ray tenses, he doesn't like thinking about how he stole Roy's life even though Roy has assured him that he doesn't hate him and he's okay with what he's got, although he knows he's still rather pissed about the arm thing although he'd gotten better since Dick and Wally had finally finished his arm.

They walk in silence for the rest of the way as Kat explains the rules to Joann who nods along looking happy. When they arrive Ray keeps watch while the other three climb up before climbing up himself and pulling the ladder up afterwards. They made their way into the main apartment (where Jade and Artemis and Dick and Wally's rooms were) and after introductions and a promise that she would think about a codename they got to what they had called him for.

"There's a mental suggestion," Dick starts and Ray freezes while Roy glares and Chris looks thoughtful, "implanted in all three of your minds, if someone says a certain code-word your mind disengages and you pretty much become their slave, potentially you could give delicate information on League activities or betray us or your secret identities, you said you know the identities of a bunch of the Leaguers, that could be dangerous in the wrong hands."

He sits there still for a moment in shock, not only is he a clone but he's a potential traitor to the League, to Ollie who was kind of like an older brother, to Roy who had forgiven him for stealing his life, to the Renegades who knew what he was and had taken him in as their brother. He could betray them all, all because of stupid Phoenix.

"Can we fix it," he eventually croaks out, turning to Dick who looks apologetic as he shakes his head.

"We don't know, the only thing we could think of would be hypnosis or going to the Martian," they miss as Joann flinches, "but we're not sure if hypnosis actually works and going to the Martian would require explaining to the League and they wouldn't trust you, would probably want to experiment on Chris or something and make the rest of us either go home or go into the system. We don't know what to do, the best thing we can think of is maybe the rest of us leave and contact you after they remove the suggestion and if they don't accept the three of you then we could come break you out."

"What do you mean leave?" he asks and Kat and Dick look at each other before Kat speaks up.

"He means you, Roy, and Chris go to the League and explain while the rest of us run away, leave Gotham and find somewhere else, we don't know and we won't tell you until after they remove the mental suggestion when we contact you to see if we need to break you out. If they don't accept you or Chris or Roy we come in and break you out of their custody and find somewhere to live, somewhere without superheroes, and set up there, become their superheroes."

"Why?" Roy asks and they turn to look at him.

"Why what?" Kat asks in return and he looks up from where he was glaring at the floor.

"I can get why you're going to leave Gotham, the Martian can get where you're staying from our minds and if the Bat heard there were others playing vigilante in Gotham he would hunt you down, but why would you come get us?"

"…I thought that was obvious, you guys are part of the family, Ray may not stay here all the time and you and Chris may've only been here for a couple months but you're still one of us and we don't leave people behind. Honestly it shouldn't be that hard, we hack their systems easy enough, if we loop the cameras a bit and make sure no one sees us we can sneak in and out before they realize we're even there. Then we erase the coordinates from the system and they'll never know where we went, if they don't get an approximation apart from "no superheroes" then I doubt they'll be able to find us, the world's a big place."

"Wait, are we really going to go through with this?" Wally asks, "I mean; I know we need to get the mental suggestion out of your head but are we really just going to abandon HQ? Are you really sure we're going to be able to find a place just as good as this? And what about crime rates? If we go somewhere too good we'll stick out, if we go somewhere too bad we could end up dead or something. Plus what about food and shelter, I doubt we'll be able to find somewhere as good as here, at least not empty."

"I know, but we need to get them removed, its better the good guys know about us than the bad ones. Honestly, Phoenix could be working for the bad guys and if word gets out that we exist that could lead some…less desirable people here, Jade and Artemis's father for one, people who would want to use us for another, honestly, if they can make mental suggestions in their minds who's to say they couldn't kidnap us and brainwash us into working for them. With the Justice Friends at least they won't resort to kidnapping. Worst case scenario from them would be they want to send us into the system or back home; although, thinking back on it if we tell them what kind of homes we come from they probably wouldn't send us back. Best case scenario? Wally would probably go live with his uncle, Roy and Ray would probably go live with Arrow-head, Chris would probably go live with the Boy-scout, and they would probably want to keep an eye on the rest of us to make sure we wouldn't go back to 'the life of crime' so we would probably end up in half-way decent homes, hell, maybe even end up side-kicks or something."

"We were partners," Ray and Roy say in unison and Kat and Jade look at them before responding (also in unison) "whatever you say cowboys."

"And I was referring to the Aqua-kids," Kat adds referring to Aquaman's new protégé's Aquagirl and Aqualad.

"Umm, I might be able to help," Joann says timidly and everyone turns to look at her.

"What do you mean," Dick asks in curiosity and she looks around at them, not judgmental, just curious before taking a deep breath…and turning green.

They all blink in surprise before Artemis speaks, "well…that was…unexpected."

They all nod in agreement and Joann blushes red before speaking, "m…my na….name is J'ann M'orzz, I'm Martian Manhunter's niece. The people on my planet…they didn't really…like me, they said I was different…"

"Why?" Chris asks and she looks up scared and Jade frowns a little.

"Joann, we've only known you for a little while but there is nothing you can say that will make us turn on you…well unless you're some sort of serial killer who likes to kill people but I doubt that," Joann laughs a little at that and Jade smiles a little in victory before continuing, "anyways, we wouldn't know what was normal for Mars or not, it'll probably all be weird and we'll just accept it and move on. That's how we work or have you not been told what we are? Me and my sister are the daughters of two infamous assassins, Kaldur is the son of a well-known supervillain, Ray and Chris are clones, Simon, Kat, and Wally are Metas, Dick's a gypsy, and Jason's a street-rat, we aren't normal in any sense of the word so we really can't judge. Who knows? Maybe weird on Mars is normal on Earth and they'll get mocked for what they are."

Joann takes a deep breath before rushing out, "I'maWhiteMartian."

They all blink at her before Kat starts laughing.

"Oh my gosh, Jade you were totally right!"

"What? I don't get it?" Joann says confused and Jade speaks again.

"Not so very long ago here on Earth it was considered weird if you weren't white, there's equality now and it doesn't matter what color you are although if you're green you'll get funny looks and immediately labelled weird."

Joann blinks, "are you serious?"

Those who know their history nod and Joann huffs a little laugh, "wow, I didn't expect people to accept me so easily."

"Joann, I just want you to know that there's people out there who won't accept you. We do and we don't care what kind of Martian you are; hell, we don't care that you are Martian but there are going to be people out there who won't like you because of that and I don't want you to go out expecting everyone to be okay with what you are alright?" Kat says and Joann looks over at her with a sad smile.

"I figured there're always people who won't accept you just because you're different. But…I've never been accepted by anyone at all, everyone looked down on me at home because I wasn't green and to have anyone, anyone at all accept me is just…amazing. The only other person I have…had was my sister M'gann, she was a White Martian too but I had to leave her behind because she wasn't trained, she should be ready in a couple years though and maybe she can figure out a way to get here too."

"How'd you get here anyways?" Jason asks and she blushes before ducking her head.

"I might've snuck onto my Uncle's ship when he came to Mars last time, I had planned on him letting me be his protégé or something but he wouldn't let me, he was going to send me back to Mars and I just…I couldn't go back so I asked the Bio-ship and she let me go and gave me the directions to this city, I guess it's a city my Uncle doesn't come to a lot or something so he won't find me."

"You snuck onto Martian Manhunter's ship?" Dick asks incredulously and she nods her head meekly and he breaks into a giant smile, "WICKED!"

"So you really think you can get the mental suggestion out of our heads?" Ray asks and she turns to him with a smile.

"Yup! I believe the human saying is 'it'll be a piece of cake'!"

"Let's get started then!"

* * *

It took her three hours, one hour for each of them, to find and get rid of the mental suggestions. When it was over they each admitted that they felt a little different though they couldn't really describe it. The next item on their list of things to do then came up and they all returned to their spots in the living room.

"So what do you want your codename to be Joann?" Dick asked from his spot upside down on the couch in between Wally and Artemis. Jade and Ray were sitting on the loveseat while Joann, Chris, and Kaldur each had their own arm-chair. Jason was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Wally like Kat was perched on the arm of Roy's armchair and Simon sat at the coffee table coloring.

"I don't know, I never really thought about it."

"Hey maybe we could do something to play off your Uncle's name," Wally said and they all though about it.

"Yeah, but nothing with Martian in it, we don't want to be too obvious," Kat added in and Artemis wrinkled her nose.

"Manhunter? I don't know about you guys but she doesn't really look like a Manhunter to me."

"Womanhunter's kinda long though," Jason said.

"What about Girlhunter," Chris said and they thought about it before turning to Joann.

"Whaddya think, wanna be Girlhunter of the Renegades?" Jade asked and she smiled.

"I like it!"

"Welcome to the Renegades Girlhunter," Kate said with a smirk, "you're a part of the family now."

"I think that's one of the scariest things I've ever heard you say Kat," Jason said and Kat glared at him.

"You better be glad there aren't any pillows Hood."


	12. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just filler because someone said there wasn't enough Simon and some explanations about my OCs because there were some things that weren't explained very well if at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

"Umm…Kat."

"Yeah Roy?"

"I know you go by Alley Cat and everything but don't you think this is a little too far?"

"…What are you talking about?"

"Why is there a cat perched on your shoulder?"

"…Well, you know how Simon's a Meta?"

"Yeah…"

"Our powers are the same, I guess since we're related, and he was practicing shifting and…well…he kinda got stuck."

Roy stares at the tiny grey cat perched on Kat's shoulder, its grey fur almost silver in the moonlight and it looks up at him with big, blue, eyes.

"Are you sure that's him?"

"Yeah, I don't know why he's grey instead of brown though like his hair color but he's always had blue eyes, otherwise I would be really worried."

"O…kay. Can you explain something for me?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Well two things actually, the first, don't Meta powers usually come when you're like…ten or something?"

"I don't really know what happened all I know is Karen, you know my sister?, was in his room and she screamed and when we went in there was a pillow floating a couple inches above his face. My parents said I "corrupted" him and kicked us out before we could "corrupt" Karen."

"You know, I've listened to a lot of the things Wally says but I think that takes the cake in sheer stupidity."

"I have never claimed that my parents were intelligent."

"Touché, anyways my second question is why don't you use your powers in a fight, the most you do is shift."

"Oh, that, well I used to use my powers when I fought but one day I guess I used them too much or something because all of a sudden it felt like I was being ripped apart. I was knocked out for a few days after that and Wally thinks it had something to do with too many conflicting gravity fields around my body. He says that if I use it too much again I could literally rip my body apart."

"…I guess that's a good reason not to use them then."

"Yeah, I think so."

"…How long do you think Simon is going to be stuck like that?"

"I don't know but he's kinda cute like this isn't he?"

"MROW!"

"I don't think he likes being called cute, Kat."

"That's too bad, 'cuz he is, OW! Don't scratch me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the next chapter which is mostly just filler. Plans are to get the rest of it up by the end of the day. Enjoy :)


	13. Theories of Alternate Time Streams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Large machines almost crushing poor Simon's coffee table and tourists from the future. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

"How's it coming?" a man in a prison jumpsuit says as he walks through the ashes that fall from the sky like snow.

"Almost finished," the kid replies, head stuck in a machine as he messes with the wires.

"Wish I could go along."

"Sorry, only seats one," he replies as he turns a final dial and looks up.

"You understand the trip to the past will fry the machine's circuitry. This…is a one-way ticket."

"Does this look like a future worth returning to?" the kid asks gesturing to the waste-land in which they stand. He sighs and stands up, "well, I better get in character…Neutron."

"Please! Don't use that name. I was Neutron for too many years, through too much destruction. Curing me and saving Flash's life…you know …that's only the beginning," Neutron says as he hands the kid a small blue ball.

"I know Nathaniel, big mission, lots to do, better get to it," the kid replies as he stows the cure and pulls down his goggles. He walks over and jumps in the machine before the door closes and there's a flash of light and a gust of wind and it's gone.

* * *

"You know Joann, you need a costume like ours," Kat says one day. She'd been with them a month and was about to start shifts on the street, her abilities had certainly helped her speed through the stealing portion of training and since they didn't fight any big bad guys she could muscle through on her powers alone in fights although she would still be practicing her fighting.

"What do you mean?" she asks and looks around as everyone comes into the living room, they always met up before they left to decide who'd be where, they were about to go out and play vigilante for the night so they were in full costume and she looked around at the various masks and goggles.

"We know you can shape-shift but you seem to like this form so you'll either need to change your face or change your clothes into some sort of costume," Kat says motioning to the Martian's chosen human form.

She was pale, freckles, reddish-brown eyes, and brown hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore the same kind of clothes that she wore the day they met although she alternated the colors of her T-shirt and Converse.

"Well, what about this?" she concentrates for a moment and they watch as her clothes reform into a skin-tight black suit with a red X across the chest and a red belt, knees and shoes. She has black finger-less gloves that go up to her elbow and her hair goes from its usual ponytail to a braid that lies over one shoulder. A black hooded cloak that ends at her waist is tied around her neck and with the hood pulled up they can barely see the domino mask she wears through the shadows.

"Definitely asterous," Robin says with a grin before they're interrupted by a flash of light and burst of lightning.

A machine drops down in the middle of the room, just barely missing Simon's coffee table and they all turn ready to fight, Girlhunter floating behind them. They watch as the machine hisses smoke before it opens and a brunette in a white-and-red costume with goggles jumps out.

"TADA!" he yells, arms spread wide before he looks at them and blinks, "Um…oops?"

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Robin says and the stranger looks at them.

"Um…I'm a tourist…from the future…but I think I might've gotten the date wrong."

"…"

"Are you serious?" Alley Cat asks and he looks at her before furrowing his face in confusion.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Alley Cat and you're in Renegades HQ, and you better start talking a story we believe or I'll let Cheshire play with you."

He turns to look at Cheshire who holds her Sai threateningly and he visibly gulps, "like I said, I'm a tourist from the future, you know Flash?"

"'Course we do, who doesn't know the Justice Friends? 'sides, Flash is apparently my uncle what's it to ya'?" Velocity says and future-boy looks at him in shock.

"Wally? Wally West? Son of Rudolph and Mary West? That nephew of the Flash?" the kid asks and they all blink in shock before Alley Cat lowers her whip.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I think we should hear what this kid has to say," she says and they all nod, "start talking."

One Explanation Later

"So you're trying to tell me that I'm supposed to be Flash's sidekick named Kid Flash of all things, he's supposed to be Batman's sidekick, she's supposed to be an assassin, they're not supposed to exist, he's supposed to be Aquaman's sidekick, he's supposed to be the second Robin, and those two are supposed to both be sidekicks of Green Arrow?" Velocity asks incredulously and the kid… Bart apparently nods.

"Yeah, my best guess would be that instead of hopping back in time I guess I hopped into an alternate time-stream on accident. This is soooo not crash, now I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen," he moans and Alley Cat speaks up.

"Well, we could treat it like everything you know from the future is going to happen, just in case, that way if it does we can stop it and if it doesn't oh well at least we're not suffering through the apocalypse."

"…You know, that could actually work," he says blinking in surprise, "but how do we do this?"

"I believe my friends that we should watch out for this REACH, Robin can hack League sensors and watch to see if we can pinpoint where the REACH might be. Also you know the exact day the Flash died correct?" he looks to Bart at this point who nods, "well, around that day we could monitor the news coming out of Central City and when Neutron arrives you cure him and save Flash's life; that would accomplish both of your goals would it not?"

"Yeah, I guess, but both of those events don't really start for about sevenish years, what do I do 'til then?"

"You could live with us, steal during the day, fight crime at night, save the world a few times while no one knows the difference. Maybe once the REACH invasion is over you can go meet your Grandpa, explain a few things, he'd probably be interested in meeting you," Alley Cat says and Arsenal sighs.

"What is it with you and picking up strays?"

"If I left strays on the street I wouldn't have my brother now would I?" she joked and everyone groaned.

"We really need to get him a new name that joke's getting old," Robin says and Bart laughs.

"Alright, so I've got a job, a costume, now all I need is a name."

"Does that costume of yours come in darker colors? We're in Gotham and you look like a walking talking target. Oh, and I say Impulse," Alley Cat says and Bart blinks.

"Yes and I like it!"

"Welcome to the team Impulse," Robin says as Velocity fist-bumps Impulse.

"We can always use more speedsters."


	14. Stupid Irony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman's first run-in with the Renegades...dun...Dun...DUUUUUUUNNNNNNN
> 
> ...I really need to get a life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Bruce Wayne was confused, not that he would admit it. He was the Goddamn Batman; he didn't get confused; he knew everything and planned for anything. But still he was confused.

For several years now he had been hearing rumors of a new vigilante, or vigilantes no one was ever sure, and over time he had seen signs that it was a possibility, muggings and other back alley crimes stopped and the victims calling them in, seemingly mostly unharmed. According to each report he had read they were all stopped by children.

He read over the latest report, according to the victim it had been stopped by two blurs, one grey, one black and red, and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't know what was going on but he was going to get to the bottom of it, for now he had patrol.

* * *

Batman groaned as he groggily woke up to feel chains around his wrists and quickly looked around to see he was in some sort of warehouse and tried to remember what had happened.

There, Two-Face, baseball bat…of all the stupid irony. He heard a door open somewhere and saw Two-Face coming towards him baseball bat in hand, this was not going well.

* * *

Alley Cat looked into the warehouse where Two-Face held the Bat. Robin had been on patrol when he had spotted Two-Face taking down the Dark Knight with a baseball bat. After sitting in silence for a minute over the stupid irony they had decided to help him out, after all, if he didn't stop Gotham psychos no one would and they weren't trained enough to handle it on their own, not to mention they didn't have the resources.

For now their plan was simple; go inside, take down goons, take down Two-Face, rescue Bat, get him to Zeta, and eat ice cream in celebration, in that order. The entirety of the Renegades except for Red Hood and Stray who were at home stood on the roof tops around the warehouse where the Bat was being kept. They were going to sneak in and take down as many goons as they could quietly before going full out. As Velocity and Impulse ran inside through the side door Alley Cat, Robin, Arsenal, Tigress, and Cheshire snuck in through the shadows. Girlhunter floated above the roof of the warehouse, invisible, as she kept up a mental communications link and Tempest and Kr waited for when they would enter, they weren't going to go in until after they abandoned stealth as they were the least stealthy of the group.

The take-down started as Velocity knocked out an outer goon and Impulse soon followed with his own. Robin took down two who stood back-to-back and the stealth fight began. After about ten minutes half the grunts had been taken down and that was when Tempest and Kr ran in as the full-out attack began. Once all of the goons had been taken down Two-Face walked out of the back room with a bloody baseball bat and saw all of the unconscious goons. He stared in shock for a moment which was long enough for Robin to toss a knock-out pellet causing him to collapse, unconscious. Robin, Alley Cat, and Arsenal walked into the back room together as the others stayed behind to watch the grunts and call the cops. They saw the Bat tied to the back wall and looking rather worse for the wear although he didn't seem to be unconscious yet.

"Hello," Alley Cat said and Batman watched her warily, "I'm Alley Cat and you're beat up so I'm gonna go over there and untie you and would appreciate it if you didn't try to beat the crap out of me afterwards can we agree to that? Or are you just going to hang there glaring at me in silence?"

"…We have an agreement," he growled out, glaring at her and she smiled.

"Good! Two-Face is unconscious and we're waiting for the cops, that's Robin and Arsenal by the way," she said conversationally as she walked over and began to untie him, "we took all the goons out first and he was so shocked that he kinda just stood there it was kinda funny to see him so shocked if ya' wanna be honest and he stood there so long we just knocked him out. I don't think he was expecting anyone to come rescue you since you're the Big Bad Bat and you work alone and…"

"Do you ever stop talking?" he asked, sounding annoyed and she laughed.

"Yes, honestly I'm just kinda filling in for Robin since he's being so quiet today, or is it tonight, yeah, definitely tonight. That reminds me, Robin why are you so quiet?"

"I made a bet with Velocity that I could be quiet longer than he could, and he broke that bet about two hours ago after five minutes and I'm just proving my point further."

"…Oh, well then. Well, you're all free and stuff and we're gonna go home, bye Batman!" she said cheerily and skipped out of the room.

"Well, she's definitely crazy enough to be a Gothamite," Arsenal mutters and Batman's head whips up to look at him.

"Speedy?"

"Bats, I haven't been Speedy for a long time, hell, I never even met you when I was Speedy although he says Ollie's worked you a couple of times since then. Anyways I would appreciate it if you didn't mention that the first Speedy and the current Speedy are two different people, I happen to like it here."

With that the two Renegades walk out of the room and along with the rest of their family leave as the police pull up and Batman limps out of the warehouse.

"Well, I guess the reports weren't wrong after all," he mutters before heading to the Batmobile. Alfred was going to have kittens over his injuries tonight but after he finished up he was going to start researching these kids and how the first Speedy looked as young as he did when he started minus the arm.

* * *

"Batman!" Green Arrow said as he lowered his bow from the Dark Knight, "what are you doing here?"

"I need to speak to Speedy," he growls, "alone."

Green Arrow looks between his protégé and the Bat a few times before Speedy sighs, "I'll be fine Arrow; the Bat's not going to attack me."

"Yeah, well, I'll be over here," he gestures to the next rooftop over before making a running jump to it.

"What are you," Batman growls and Speedy smirks.

"Whatever do you mean Batman? I'm just the second Speedy, although Arrow still thinks he's on the first, honestly, that's the reason real Roy didn't come back after the others rescued him."

Batman blinks for a moment, "what do you mean the real Roy?"

"Can't you figure it out Bats? Honestly you're supposed to be the World's Greatest Detective, why couldn't you figure out I was a clone? I was supposed to unknowingly infiltrate the Justice League, after that I have no idea what I was supposed to do, the Phoenix assholes just implanted a mental suggestion in my mind to do that, they did that to Real Roy and Kr too although I'm not quite sure why considering they were never supposed to leave their pods. But, don't worry, Girlhunter got them out, took about an hour each but they're gone and all that's left are Roy and Ray Harper and Kr, half-human clone of Superman."

Batman freezes at that, "what do you mean clone of Superman?"

"I mean exactly what I say, Phoenix over in Blüdhaven made a clone of Superman titled Project Kr and a clone of Roy Harper, me, titled Project Sidekick. Robin found out and they broke in and got them out, a couple months later they removed the mental suggestions. Problem solved, no traitors, no need to involve the League. I'd suggest looking into Phoenix though, we destroyed all of the DNA but if they got it from Superman once I wouldn't put it past them to do it again."

Batman nods, already thinking of ways to search through it, "I know you won't tell me the names of everyone there, but tell me the name of the group."

"Renegades," Speedy smirks, "we call ourselves the Renegades."

Batman doesn't miss the "we" or "ourselves" as he spoke and watches Speedy run over to the other rooftop to be immediately interrogated by Green Arrow. He won't worry about the Renegades for now, they can take care of themselves and don't seem to take on the big villains and right now he's more interested in Phoenix and their cloning of Superman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those of you wondering about a couple things. The Renegades are a large group and in Batman the thugs are never really very good fighters, they mostly challenge the heroes through numbers and brute strength which is why the kids were able to take them out relatively easily. The reason Two-Face was so easy is because everyone, and I mean everyone, knows the Bat works alone so he's rather shocked that someone's rescuing him which is why they could take him out, I'm trying not to make them TOO super-powered. Also, the reason AC was talking so much is because right then they were breaking their sacred rule of no contact with the Bat because they know the only reason they're able to do what they do is right now they're flying under the radar, they've never done anything big enough to draw notice. The reason Speedy said so much is misdirection, and Batman knows this. However, if someone really did clone Superman that is way more important than a bunch of street kids taking out thugs because he doesn't know right now that any of them apart from the clone is super-powered and being half-human he might not have even gotten any powers, so he's willing to overlook them for the moment to get the bigger fish. Anyways, rant over have a good day I'll be posting the next chapter in a few.


	15. Tech

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parents should really pay more attention to their kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

The park was empty, it was almost eight and all of the responsible parents had taken their kids home for baths and bedtime. Kat however had decided to take Simon there and of course Roy had decided to tag along "for safety" he said while Jade laughed and Wally and Dick made a bet on how long it would be before they started dating (Wally said six months, Dick said a year since Kat was only twelve).

Simon was having a blast, there weren't any lines for the slides or swings and Kat was always willing to push him while Roy sat on the bench and watched for other Gothamites. The only other person there was a kid who sat on the far swing, slowly swinging back and forth and staring morosely at his shoes. Kat watched him out of the corner of her eye for a while until the sun set and the street lights came on before motioning Roy over to play with Simon.

"You're bringing another stray home aren't you," he said as he began pushing Simon on the swings and she blushed and stuck her tongue out before walking over to the kid.

"Hey kiddo, are you okay?" she asked softly as she squatted before him and he looked up at her with tear-filled eyes.

"Yeah," he sniffled, "'m fine."

"Really?" she asked and he nodded, "yeah, well I don't believe you. Where's your parents, are you lost?"

He shook his head, "they're in Guatemala, they're s'pposed to be back next week."

She blinked at that, "Alright, who's supposed to be watching you?"

"The maid, but she's busy and said I was a bother so I was s'pposed to go read or play or somethin'; but, I read all my books so I came here but no one wanted to play wi' me," he looked a bit more downcast as he said that.

"Huh, well, you wanna play with us? We could play tag or something," he looked up a bit surprised at this before looking over at Simon who smiled and waved causing Roy to look up and nod in their direction before helping Simon slow down before he ran over.

"HI! I'm Simon, that's my Mama Kat and Roy, what's your name?" he asked in a rush and the kid blinked before responding with a small hopeful smile.

"My name's Tim, Tim Drake, wanna play tag?" Simon got a big smile on his face and quickly grabbed Tim's hand before turning to Kat.

"TAG YOU'RE IT MAMA!" he yelled and dragged Tim off who cracked a small smile and Kat waited a few seconds before running after them.

They played for a while, eventually the younger two managed to convince Roy to help them bring down Kat who kept climbing up trees to get away from them. Once Kat was lying on her back with Tim and Simon on her stomach and Roy lying across her legs she decided that it was time to go home.

"Is anyone going to come pick you up kiddo?" she asked him.

"No, I'm just gonna walk home," he replied, scuffing his feet in the dirt.

"Well, how about we walk you home, does that sound good?"

"…Really?" he asked hopefully, looking up at her.

"Yup! Can't have you walking home by yourself, Gotham's a dangerous place, especially at night," she told him before walking over and picking him up, "Come on kiddo, what direction do we need to head in?"

He pointed to the left towards the nicer parts of Gotham and Roy picked up Simon before they were on their way. They walked alone on the streets for several blocks without anyone stopping them, ignoring the sounds of the back-alley actions because of the kids. They were about to turn the corner when three guys walked up and the lead one pulled a gun.

"Alright girlie, here's how it's gonna go, you're gonna put the kid down and come wit' us and I'm not gonna pull this trigger, how does that sound huh?" he asked while the men behind him leered at her and she remained silent before slowly squatting down and placing Tim on the ground.

"Okay kiddo, I want you to walk over to Roy alright? I promise everything'll be alright you just need to go stand by Roy right now," she whispered as he gazed up at her fearfully before nodding and walking over, keeping the three men in sight. When he was standing behind Roy with Simon her shoulders relaxed slightly before she slowly stood up and placed her hands on her sides.

"What was the next thing you wanted boys?" she asked with a lecherous grin, hands slowly sliding down her sides to the waistline of her pants and internally sneered at the obvious tent growing in the pants of the man on the right, "I'm rather forgetful."

"Well girlie," the middle-man said as he lowered the gun and continued to ogle her legs which were long and thin from hours of training, "you're gonna come wit' me and my boys and we're gonna have a little fun."

"Hmm, but I don't like that plan," she said as her hand closed around the handle of her whip which was hidden under her jacket, "how about we have a little fun right here."

She quickly pulled out her whip and wrapped it around the barrel of the gun, pulling it out of the guy's hand before he even realized what had happened. She ran forward and kicked the guy on the left in the chest while punching the guy in the middle in the neck and turning towards the third with a cold smile.

"Well, I'm having fun, are you?" she asked before kicking straight up and watching as he fell to the ground howling in pain before turning on her heel and walking back to Roy, Simon, and Tim who were watching with hatred (Roy), excitement (Simon), and fear (Tim).

"Jeez what're you glaring at Roy-boy?" she asked.

"Those idiots and I think we've scared Tiny Tim over here," he said, jerking his thumb towards Tim who was looking at her with fear and a little bit of awe.

"Oops, are you okay kiddo? Did they scare you?"

"How'd you do that?"

She blinks, "What?"

"How'd you do that? IT WAS SO COOL!" he yells, waving his arms in the air.

"Uhm, you tell me."

"…Training?"

"You're a smart kid you know that? You'll go far in life."

He blushes at the praise, "thanks…could you train me?"

This time Roy blinks before turning to him, "Huh?"

"Could you train me? I want to be able to help, I've heard about the Renegades and I bet that's you guys isn't it?"

They stare at him in surprise for a moment before nodding and he continues, "I could help! I'm good with technology and stuff, well kinda, but I'll get better, I wanna help too, to save people and stuff."

"Like Batman?" Kat asks and he nods.

"Yeah! Like that."

"A couple things you need to know, one) we don't go up against supervillains, those idiots behind me are the worst we fight so you won't get any fame like Batman," he nods, "two) you can get hurt, gun shots, stab wounds, broken bones, you could die out there from some punk who gets lucky or someone better than you…or bigger."

He nods again, "I know, I watch the news and I see the heroes get injured all the time, I know it's dangerous, and I don't really care. And for the first thing that you said, I don't think I'd be ready to fight supervillains for a long time, I'm only seven."

"You're small for a seven year-old you know that? And the final thing, training is going to be hard, really, really hard work and sometimes the stuff I ask you to do could sound stupid but it's for a reason okay?"

Another nod of affirmation and she sighs, "fine, we'll train you but if you quit in a couple months you can't tell anyone about us okay?" another nod, "alright, let's go."

She turns around and starts walking the other way, grabbing Tim's hand as Roy picked Simon up again.

"But I live that way."

"It's late, you can stay the night and we'll take you back in the morning alright? We have an apartment with the other Renegades in the Narrows and most of the people there can recognize us, if we put on our masks anyways, you can slip Roy's hoodie on and no one'll look twice at you, we're known for taking in strays after all."

He nodded and later Arsenal, Alley Cat, Stray, and the new kid Tech walked into the Narrows.

Timothy Drake ran away from home that day, the police and Batman searched for months with no leads.


	16. Introductions and Deals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Batman is unprepared and our favorites kiddos are lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Batman groaned as the world came back into focus. It had been five months since the beginning of the Drake case and whenever he had a spare moment he was looking into it, that case had opened up another can of worms.

The Renegades.

He knew that it was a group largely composed of children, he just didn't know how many or who they were. He also didn't know how exactly they joined the group but he figured that it was probably made up of street kids apart from Speedy meaning it was possible Tim Drake had found his way there somehow and was taken in. He had gone to Speedy to see if Tim Drake had joined the Renegades. He had been told that Speedy wasn't a member of the Renegades although on an unrelated note there was a member of the Renegades whose name was a play on Green Arrow's.

One week and an Arkham breakout later he had gone to ask  _Red_  Arrow if Tim Drake had joined the Renegades. He had replied that he couldn't say but that Alley Cat was famous for taking in strays and that no members of the Renegades were ever forced into being a part of them and that they were taken excellent care of.

…He had taken that as a "yes he is but he's really happy so leave him alone".

And he would've if he hadn't known that they were stopping crimes. They were just runaways, they probably stole to support themselves but honestly he didn't really care, they were kids after all, there wasn't much else they could do to support themselves and they weren't stealing anything major nor did they appear to be mugging people in back alleys so he could turn a blind eye until their crimes got bigger.

Except for the vigilantism.

They were kids, kids with all signs pointed to no training except for their ability to take down Two-Face and all of his goons. He would have assumed that Arsenal and Spe…Red Arrow were training them if not for the fact that Alley Cat had a whip and neither of them knew how to use one.

So he had gone after them. What he would do when he found them he had no idea at the time, although he had toyed with the idea of taking them on as side-kicks like several of the Justice League were doing; for kids who apparently stole and regularly played vigilante they had managed to stay off his radar and that alone impressed him, though he suspected Arsenal would say no since he had refused to return to Green Arrow after his release from Phoenix…which he had been completely unsuccessful in finding.

Apparently shortly after Arsenal's rescue Phoenix had conveniently lost funding and completely vanished taking all of their information with them. He hoped the Renegades would have stolen some of the information from them before they broke Arsenal and Kr out but he wasn't too hopeful, he was the Bat after all.

In the end there were several things that led to him chasing down the Renegades which led him to his current situation of being tied to a chair, mask-less, and attempting to blink the world back into focus.

"Well Mr. Wayne, I'd tell you it was a surprise seeing you under the mask but you just won me one night free of patrol so I'll just skip the pleasantries and ask why you're here," a feminine voice asked which he immediately recognized as Alley Cat.

"Yeah, thanks Bats, although I guess it's my fault for doubting Robin's detective skills," another voice spoke up.

" _Arsenal_ ," his mind supplied and he blinked a final time before the world came into view and he saw several children no older than eighteen, no younger than twelve standing in front of him, he supposed the younger members must have been hiding to give them an appearance of strength, " **See we have no weak links** ," it screamed and he grudgingly approved.

"You gonna answer the question? Or are we going to have to release your secret ID to the world?" Robin asked and he turned to glare at him.

"I came here for several reasons, the first of which being you're thieves," he growled and he sees several of them roll their eyes, the rest being hidden by masks or under hoods.

"Yeah, well, not much we can do about that, some of us ran away from the system and the rest would be forced back home, can't have that we left for a reason," Alley Cat said and there were murmurs of agreement.

"Tim Drake," he stated plainly and Arsenal sighed.

"Told ya' that'd bite us in the ass."

"You know I tried to get him to go back home but he kept saying he was happier after a night here than he had been his entire life at his previous residence," Alley Cat replied with a glare and Robin snorted.

"Not much of a surprise honestly, his folks just shuffled him to the side, only reason they had him was they needed an heir."

"I would agree with Alley Cat but Robin has a fair point, Tech needed a home and his 'previous residence' as you called it was just that, a place for him to live, you of all people should know the difference between the two considering the amount of time you have spent attempting to drill it into our heads," a boy in a blue hoodie standing in the background says and Alley Cat sighs.

"I know Tempest but he had a good thing going there and I feel bad for being part of the reason he lost his life of luxury and ended up in this dump."

"Alley, he made his choice and personally I think he chose the better one, my family back home was rather well-off but coming here with you all is so much better than any material things I had there," a girl in a black hooded cloak speaks up and Alley Cat sighs again.

"Fine, I give, he made his choice and he likes it here better than he did there. Now, are we finished with the sob-story so we can get back to the interrogation?"

Bruce, who had been sitting quietly internally sighed, he had gotten a lot of information from that conversation but he could've gotten more, like the names of the other five people in the room, although he figured the larger male in the black hoodie was Kr.

"Oh yeah, so…any other reason you tracked us down?" Robin asked turning back to him.

"Phoenix," he said and they all stiffened, Arsenal and the one he assumed was Kr more noticeably, "they're gone, Spee…Red Arrow pointed me in their direction, probably to get me away from you, but they're gone, all of their information has been completely erased, their building is empty, even all of the sub-levels are completely empty. I assumed you had stolen some information from them when you rescued Arsenal and Kr."

One of the unnamed girls turned to Robin, "you got all of the information on Projects Kr and Side-kick right?"

He nodded, "yeah, and deleted it from their database too, completely, so they had nothing after we got them out and destroyed the DNA samples they had taken."

"Did you take anything else?" the blonde girl asked and Robin shook his head.

"No, just those two, didn't think we'd need anything else honestly, I had been browsing their database for hours before I found those two and there weren't any weapons plans, just a bunch of genetic experimentation, something called G-nomes I believe."

"That was what I was searching for," Bruce spoke up and they all turned to him, "I needed to know how they got Superman's DNA or from where, in the wrong hands that can be extremely dangerous if not for the possibility of cloning for the possibility that someone would discover how his powers work and how to give them to normal humans."

"Well, we could give it to you," Robin started and he already heard the 'but' coming up, "on one condition."

"I need to hear this condition before I agree to anything," he dead-panned and Alley Cat giggled.

"Smart man."

"Anyways, we give you the info, you leave us alone. We don't deal with supervillains; we stay away from the cops, before now one of the rules was to stay off your radar although it appears we completely blew that up. If anything we could give you a helping hand every now and then, like Alley Cat said, I already figured out your secret ID and we've figured out most of the ones that Red hasn't given us."

"Whose did he tell you?"

"We kinda unmasked him before we rescued Arsenal and Kr and figured it out from there, if you agree to the terms we'll tell you why he told us the Flash's but that's it otherwise."

He considered it for a moment. It was a good exchange; he got the information and occasional help. He wouldn't admit it but sometimes he did need a bit of help on some of the tougher cases but this was Gotham and no one else could handle it…except these kids. They'd been on the streets for years now; they had seen Gotham at its worst and still got back up to fight it. All they asked for in exchange was permission to keep doing what they were doing. The only other option he saw was they threatened him with his secret ID to keep doing what they were doing and he didn't get the information or help.

He thought and thought and thought; he sometimes needed the help, especially after Arkham breakouts but he couldn't have them in his city. Superpowers and Gotham never mixed well, usually ending in mass destruction and a free-for-all that took weeks to clean up. But on the other hand there had been Metas in Gotham under his nose for, possibly years, and he hadn't noticed so he took it as a good bet that they had learned some control over their powers…and subtlety unlike their adult counterparts. But he still wanted them out of his city but close by…

"I have a condition of my own," he told them and they looked at each other warily.

"We're listening," Alley Cat said.

"I don't like others in Gotham, especially Metas, I'm sure Red Arrow has told you about that," they nod and he continues, "you will leave Gotham and go to Blüdhaven, it's not that far and it's just as bad if not worse the only difference being there aren't any supervillains. I'm sure you know of my…resources. I can supply you with a house, food, an education, equipment, and, possibly, training to continue doing what you are doing. In return you will give me information, about Phoenix and yourselves, continue keeping the identities of the Leaguers secret, and…occasionally…when I am away on League missions or injured, patrol Gotham, only after I have tested your skills and ability to handle the villains."

There was silence for a moment before Arsenal spoke, "we aren't going to be your side-kicks are we? 'Cuz the last time I did that I ended up podded for two years."

"No, you will be a separate Team I work with and sponsor, occasionally, such as in Arkham breakouts or such, you will come into Gotham while I am here and you will follow my orders in apprehending the villains. Otherwise you will be completely separate with your own city and your own base and your own leader."

"Will this be kept quiet from the League? Some of us don't exactly want to be brought to their attention," the other red-head said and he nodded.

"Yes, if you play your cards right you can stay under the radar of the League like you have stayed under my radar or you could pass as just a new vigilante, one of you who aren't avoiding the League could take credit should they ever show up although I would recommend one of the older ones, not Tim Drake."

Alley Cat snorted, "I'm not letting Tech into the field until he's ten, same for the other two so Hood'll be starting next year and even then he'll be stuck like glue to one of us every time he goes out until he's thirteen."

"…How many of you are there?"

"Let's have a vote," Alley Cat said, completely ignoring his question, "all in favor of taking the Bat up on his deal raise your hand."

She raised her hand and Robin soon followed and after a moment the dark-haired girl in the creepy cat mask and the blonde girl next to her raised their hands and they all looked at them.

"We left so we didn't become villains in the first place, that's what he's offering us, the chance to leave crime behind completely," the dark-haired girl said and soon after Tempest raised his hand as well.

"We cannot steal forever, if we gain an education then we will be able to get a job and support ourselves."

The red-head standing to Robin's right and the brunette standing behind him both raised their hands at this and after a moment Kr and the hooded girl did too.

"We won't have to have any contact with the League if we don't want it?" Arsenal asked before sighing and raising his hand at Bruce's nod, "fine I suppose you realize I'm Roy Harper, the real one. I was captured by Phoenix when I was still Speedy at age thirteen…"


	17. The Victorian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which The Renegades get a new HQ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

They don't stay in Gotham for as long as they thought they would, within a month Batman had found a place for them to live in Blüdhaven, an old Victorian on a cliff outside of town. Upon second glance it looked rather like a smaller version of Wayne Manor. There was even a cave underground although it didn't open up out top (at least it didn't until they made an opening in the basement). They spend the next two months after that making the place their own.

It was four stories with an attic and a basement on five acres of land. They made the first floor their unofficial hang out floor, the kitchen and living room were there and the dining room opened out into a pool Boss had built for them (for Kaldur). The next floor was for the girls; Kat, Artemis, Jade, and Joann each got their own room with attached bathroom (oh the things money could get you). The next story was for the younger boys; Jason, Tim, Simon, Bart, and Wally (Dick got a room in the attic). The fourth story was for the rest; Roy, Kaldur, Chris, and Ray when he was there (he stayed the occasional weekend). They turned the part of the attic not used for Dick's room into a meeting room (Kat painted their symbol on the wall above the table) and the basement was for souvenirs; their old costumes, Kat's father's knives, Jason's bat-a-rang, Roy's old arm (Bruce, Dick, and Tim had made a new one based on designs from someone named Stone and, surprisingly enough, Lex Luthor), and some of their weapons after they got better ones.

Then there was the Cave.

They had all been taken to the Bat Cave on that fateful day when they had captured the Bat and were immediately tested in their fighting skills. Batman was impressed (though he didn't say it) and they were cleared for patrol in Gotham if a) they didn't use their powers too much and b) they worked in pairs or trios.

After their tests they had been permitted to wander around while Batman looked over the information and they had gotten several ideas from it. They ditched the dark and dreary but kept the metal catwalks and multi-level layout along with the water underneath. Their cave had a small opening into the bay, not big enough for anything apart from jet-skis and easily hidden. Inside there was a small rocky beach were driftwood occasionally washed up which they used for bonfires sometimes. Through a strange but efficient system of Martian telekinesis, Kryptonian and Atlantian strength, explosives, and Kat's ability to manipulate gravity they managed to create a tunnel that ended in a pile of rocks on the cliff face where it met the beach and led to the road and a stairwell that ended in the basement of the house. None of them were technically old enough to drive a car but Bruce had taught them and they all (except Joann, Wally, and Bart) had motorcycles which they used to get to the city. They also had a Zeta-beam platform which was connected to the Justice League's although their coordinates were hidden. The top level where the stairs let out was for training. They had a lot from workout equipment and racks of training weapons to a holographic floor for sparring and a simulator. The next floor was the computers and lab equipment. Then there was the extra kitchen, living room with TV, and bedrooms on the floor after that. Next floor was the motorcycles and after that was the ground of the cave which held containment cells and the beach (the jet-skis were generally next to the motorcycles, they only had three).

Batman arrived in through the Zeta-beams two months after he had given them the house and resources to build their own cave before leaving with orders to stay out of Gotham and not go into Blüdhaven until they had their headquarters up and running.

He blinked, "I'm impressed, how did you manage this?"

"Robin hacked the Bat-computer and stole some earlier plans for the Bat-Cave. We went with a similar design but we're not so dark and dreary hence the extra lights, candles, and lack of bats," Alley Cat said from her place in the spinny chair in front of the computer, "we also found where you got your chair from and I must say they make excellent chairs."

"Even with plans it still should've taken you longer, it took me years to build the 'Cave."

"Yeah, but Joann can float, Chris has super-strength, and Kat can make the stuff weigh practically nothing at all by removing the gravity from it," Dick says, "not to mention there are a lot more of us than there are of you."

"…Excellent point, I suppose this means you can begin patrols in Blüdhaven, but I didn't come here for a social visit. There's someone running around Gotham at night, she calls herself Batgirl and I was wondering if you knew her."

"Batgirl? That's really stupid she sounds like she wants to be your sidekick," Jade says walking down the spiral staircase from the basement while Artemis slid down the fire-men's pole, "but no, we've never heard of her before, best guess is she started up after we left and either wants to be your sidekick like her name suggests or she's really bad at stealth and is going to get herself killed pretty soon."

"How long have these rumors been going around?" Kat asks, putting her foot out to stop her spin.

"A week," he growls and Kat looks thoughtful.

"I'm going to have to agree and disagree with Jade on this one, I think she's really bad at stealth but I don't think she chose her name to become your sidekick, I'm more leaning towards she wanted people to immediately connect her with you and through that fear her, but that wasn't a very well thought out plan, with the connection she wants the bad-guys to make between the two of you they're going to immediately assume she's your sidekick and that you've trained her, probably overestimating her skill. It would've been better if she made a new name for herself, people would've underestimated her because she's new, a girl, and presumably young since she took on Bat ** _girl_**  instead of say Bat ** _woman_**."

"From what I've heard she tried to take Batwoman at first but people insisted on calling her Batgirl which agrees with your statement on her age."

"Well, what are you going to do?" Dick asks, "based on the fact that's she running around Gotham in costume at night presumably with no protective clothing and shoddy-at-best training I doubt she'll stop just because you tell her to and without training she'll end up killed, either by thugs because of her lack of skills or some big-time villain will hear about her, incorrectly assume she's your sidekick, and kill her to try to get to you."

"Wonderful, do you have any recommendations about what I should do?"

"You have a few options here and I would recommend trying the first and if that doesn't work going on to the rest. First you could try and get her to quit, she doesn't need to be doing this if she's just a kid. This life isn't something people should have to live through. If that doesn't work I think you have three options after that. You could ignore her and hope she doesn't get killed before she quits, you could do to her what you're doing to us, weapons and training, or you could make her your side-kick, like what Aquaman has with those two kids since the Speedys were 'partners'," Kat says doing finger-quotes around the word partners and the rest nodded.

"Yeah, I agree with Kat I don't think you really have any other options here," Jade says and Batman sighs.

"Wonderful," he says sarcastically, "I've already taken you twelve on as pseudo apprentices and now I'm stuck with a sidekick, why don't I just adopt a dog next, maybe a kid too while I'm at it."

"…Why in the world would you adopt a dog?" Kat asked, looking at him incredulously, "dogs are so annoying and I'm pretty sure your girlfriend wouldn't like it."

He sighs, "I'm pretty sure I've told you Selina and I aren't dating."

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure if you weren't dating she would've been in Arkham several times over by now, how many times has she gotten away? She said she lost count after three-hundred two."

Batman, to his credit, ignored her and changed the subject, "Alfred has informed me that I am to invite you over for dinner."

They had met Alfred during their one-month stay at Wayne Manor before Bruce had bought the Victorian (as they had taken to calling it). He had immediately proved who was the real boss of the house (hint: it wasn't Bruce) after he scolded Bruce for going into a situation unprepared and underestimating his enemies. Over time they had all come to like Alfred (especially his cooking) and he had come to like them after he saw Bruce give a real smile at Dick and Wally's shenanigans. When they had left he had informed them that he still expected them to come back occasionally so he could make sure they ate proper food though they suspected he just wanted them there to lighten up Bruce since he had put them all through a crash-course in cooking.

"When?" Dick asked as Kat hopped up and went upstairs to get the others (Bart and Wally practically worshipped Alfred as god after the first time they ate his cooking).

"He said he'd come through the Zeta-beams when it was ready," Bruce said, "now, show me around and then we'll get a little training in."

They all nodded just as two bursts of wind flew down the stairs and came to a stop in front of Bruce.

"Is it true?" Wally asked looking excited, "did Alfie really invite us over for dinner?"

"No," Bruce deadpanned and Wally and Bart's expressions changed to look like he had just killed their favorite puppy, "he informed me that I am to invite you for dinner."

Both of their faces lit up like a Christmas tree and they did a little victory dance, "for now though it's a tour of your cave and training."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have just a few things to say characterization wise. Someone on fanfiction said that Batman these past two chapters trusted too quickly and wouldn't do that in canon. My response to that is this; Batman knew they already knew his identity, he knew that if they really wanted they could probably run from him for a while and maybe hide where he wouldn't be able to find them (he's not sure about the scope of their abilities at the moment, plus they've been under his radar for years). What he did was take a carefully calculated risk, when he took them to the Batcave and introduced them to Alfred he knew they already knew who he was and could probably take an educated guess as to where the 'Cave was so he wasn't really taking that large of a risk of revealing anything. In exchange he got information on PHOENIX and them in addition to a slight control over them AND they left Gotham. He saw this as an acceptable risk and no he's not going to let them patrol Gotham, not for a while at least. Yes, I said they were cleared for patrol which means in an absolute last resort, if it is absolutely that he must take the night off of patrolling Gotham then they are allowed to come in and patrol for him. Only then will they be able to patrol.


	18. Meet Batgirl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman finally finds out who Batgirl is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Barbara Gordon was not a coward, quite the opposite in fact considering she had decided to be a vigilante in Gotham. However there were still things that scared her.

Her Dad not coming home from work.

The Joker.

And apparently Batman considering how she felt at the moment as he stood in front of her glaring.

"Ms. Gordon, what, exactly, do you think you're doing?" he growled out and ohmygosh did his glare just get  ** _worse?_**

"Um, well, you see Mr. Batman sir," she stuttered out before taking a deep breath and rushing out, "I thought that maybe you might need some help since Gotham was so big and there's so much crime and so many Arkham patients."

She could just tell that underneath that cowl he had raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "and what, pray tell, brought you to the conclusion that I don't have assistance in defending Gotham?"

She blinked at that before responding unsurely, "everyone knows you don't let any League members in Gotham, or Metas, and you don't have a protégé."

He sighs at that and rubs the bridge of his nose through his cowl, "did you ever consider for a moment that maybe that was for a reason? Or that nobody had seen my protégé?"

"…Do you have a protégé?"

He's silent for a fraction of a second before responding, "No, I don't have a protégé, nor have I ever."

"Oh."

"I would suggest Ms. Gordon that you go home, change, and don't put the costume back on. Gotham's a dangerous place, especially for those without training."

"Then train me!" she exclaimed, "I'm not just going to go back home and be a good little girl anymore, not when I know there's something more I could be doing! Please Batman; you can't just do it alone."

He glared at her again and as she prepared to renew her arguments he spat out one word, "Fine."

"…What?"

"I said fine, I will take you on as a protégé but I warn you now, I will not be going easy on you, at all. Training will be hard, your body will ache, you'll feel exhausted, but remember that you signed on for this."

There's silence for a moment as she takes in this new development, "so…does this mean I get to learn your secret identity?"

"No, not until you've proven yourself trustworthy."

"How long will that take?"

He doesn't answer.

* * *

Six months later

July 4, 2011 Hall of Justice

Today was the day.

It had been six months since Batman had taken her on as his protégé but he still hadn't told her his secret identity yet. She hadn't yet seen the Bat-Cave although he told her that after a year she would be permitted to see it. He had given her a new costume, a utility belt, and training on rooftops far away from prying eyes and permitted her to patrol with him on weekends although if a big shot showed up he made her go home saying she wasn't ready yet.

She was supposed to meet the other protégés today at the Hall of Justice and she couldn't wait, Batman hadn't let her meet any of them previously as they didn't come to Gotham unless any of their big name villains came to town and she wasn't allowed up against them yet.

For now though Mr. Freeze was in the park and she was waiting in the Bat-mobile, watching as Batman took him on single-handedly, it was over in about five minutes.

After he talked to her Dad for a moment he came back and they rode in silence as they drove to one of the freight Zeta-tubes (he had explained those to her as well as told her their locations) and they appeared in D.C. five blocks from the Hall of Justice.

* * *

Speedy was fuming as he leaned against the wall in the Hall and the rest of the protégés watched. Batgirl could understand why. Batman and the rest of the League didn't trust the four of them, hadn't even told them that this was just a fake. But then, she couldn't really understand since her mentor didn't trust her at all. He hadn't told her his identity, or even taken her to his hideout, she was sure that Speedy knew his mentor's identity and probably hung out with him at the hideout, although she couldn't really imagine Batman hanging out…anywhere.

"What's Project CADMUS?" Aquagirl asked and she raised her head.

"I don't know, but if you want I could probably find out," she said and they all turned to her. "Batman's been teaching me how to hack," she said with a shrug and Aqualad motioned to the computer.

"Well Batgirl, don't keep us waiting."

"Project CADMUS is a genetics lab in DC," Speedy says and they all turn to him, "what?"

"How do you know that?" Aquagirl asks and he shrugs.

"Trade-secret."

"Do you know where it is?" Aquagirl asked and he nodded, "then take us there."

"What?"

"Take us there, if Batman's suspicious then that means there is something to investigate and if we accomplish it before them they might trust us, or at least see us as equals."

Speedy snorts, "Equals? You're never going to be seen as equals in their eyes, they'll forever see you as sidekicks, that's how it's going to work, even when you're adults you'll forever be the little kids running around after their mentors with a too-big bow or no knowledge of the surface world."

They all blinked after his rant before Aqualad spoke up, "well, we can at least try to prove to them that we're equals, this could be our first step."

"Why did you keep referring to just us and not yourself?" Batgirl asked, "You kept saying 'you' and 'you're' and 'you'll', the only time you included yourself in that was the too-big bow."

"One day I'm going to be my own hero, I'm not going to be Speedy forever, I'm going to make a new name for myself and it'll be such that I can't be connected with that kid anymore."

"We've forgotten the matter at hand," Aquagirl pipes up, "Batgirl, hack…please."

As Batgirl makes her way over to the computer and begins to hack Speedy rolls his eyes.

"This isn't going to help you, right now you're acting like little kids throwing a temper tantrum because they weren't taken to the playground and you think this is going to help you appear to be mature young adults? No, this will probably just prove that you can't be left alone and they'll trust you even less than they already do."

"Or this could prove that we can handle ourselves in a mature fashion in a dangerous situation without our mentors," Aquagirl says, glaring at Speedy, "why are you so against this?"

"I'm against this because you're going into a situation blind and it's going to get you killed."

"I'm in," Batgirl says, interrupting the argument and the rest of them turn to her, "Speedy was right, they're a genetics lab in DC but that's all the League's got on them, that and an address. Do you have anything to add?"

"Not at liberty to say, if I do the Boss'll murder me, slowly and painfully."

They all turn to him before Aqualad asks unsurely, "would Green Arrow really do that?"

Speedy blinks, not that they can see it under the domino mask, "I said the Boss would murder me, I said nothing about Green Arrow."

"But isn't Green Arrow your boss?" Aquagirl asks.

"He's my mentor, the Boss is a completely different person and when he finds out that I told you anything about one of his missions he would murder me."

"'His mission'?"

"CADMUS is already being investigated for connections with a previous genetics lab in a location I am not at liberty to disclose to you right now. I'll just say that it's handled and leave it at that, the Boss and his team are good at what they do."

"Is your boss League?"

"Not saying, but I'll say it again; the League wouldn't get any respect for you for throwing a temper tantrum and going into a dangerous situation half-cocked and with no information."

"And I'm saying that CADMUS needs investigating by League members…"

"We aren't League members."

"…and that this is a good opportunity to prove ourselves in dangerous situations," she continues on over him and he rolls his eyes.

"I still say this is a stupid idea but if you insist on going then I guess I need to be there to keep your asses out of trouble."

"Whatever, where's CADMUS located Batgirl?" Aquagirl says and after they get the coordinates they head out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I know what you're thinking. "Why is Batgirl so weak?" First, I would like to say a few things. I'm going to make her stronger but right now she's a thirteen year old, normal, human girl surrounded by the likes of Superman and Batman (most don't really consider him fully human). She's unsure because she really doesn't have a lot of training (6 months) not to mention she doesn't have anyone who understands what's going on because the only other person who could understand (Speedy) is rude to and has been doing this for a while (he was the first sidekick here remember?!). All of the other sidekicks have been doing this for several years, they have years of experience on her. But don't worry she will get stronger.


	19. Dealings with CADMUS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superboy is rescued from CADMUS and The Renegades are revealed to the Justice League

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

Aquagirl groaned as she slowly woke up to find her hands and feet bound and herself looking through thick glass at Superman's clone.

"Let me just take a moment to say, I told you so," Speedy said from somewhere to her right and she saw that the other three were there as well; Batgirl on the far right, then Speedy, herself, and Aqualad.

"Shut up Speedy," Aqualad growled and she was pretty sure Speedy rolled his eyes before turning to face the clone.

"Hello, I know you can talk, I also know you're highly intelligent and your own person so how about introductions. I'm Speedy, to my right is Batgirl, to my left is Aquagirl, on her other side is Aqualad. What's your name all I know is your Project designation."

"I am Superboy," the clone says and she blinks, she honestly hadn't been expecting it to know how to speak.

"You can talk," Aqualad said in surprise and the clo…Superboy turned to glare at him.

"Yes I can."

"The geno-morphs taught you," Speedy continues and Superboy nods.

"They taught me much, I can read, write, I know the names of things," he says and Speedy shakes his head.

"Yeah, but have you ever seen them? Have you ever seen a sun-set over the city? Or felt a cool breeze off the ocean? Have you ever even been out of your pod before this?"

"No, why would I need to leave CADMUS?"

"Because CADMUS is keeping you prisoner here, what they're doing to you is wrong, they're turning you into a weapon for their own desires…"

"CADMUS is my home! I live because of CADMUS!" he yelled angrily.

"Over the past several years a friend has drilled it into my thick skull that a home is where people who love you eagerly await your return. If you left right here right now would anyone care? Would anyone care that you, Superboy, not Project Kr were gone, would anyone want you back because they like you? Or would they care that they had to start over on Project Kr. Would they want you back because they want to run more experiments and test on you. Tell me Superboy, can you honestly say that what I've said is false?"

There's silence for a moment as Superboy looks at him in shock but just as he's about to reply a man comes in.

"It doesn't matter what it thinks, it's just a weapon and why is it not back in its pod?"

"Think about it," Speedy whispers but Superboy hears him as Dr. Desmond yells for 'the weapon' to be put back in 'its' pod.

As Superboy walks out Dr. Desmond yells for them to begin the cloning process and to entitle it Project Sidekick.

"Oh honestly Doctor, can you not think of any original names? I mean seriously, someone already stopped both Projects Kr and Sidekick back when CADMUS was still PHOENIX and all you're going to do is restart them? Do you not think that maybe someone connected the dots between the two organizations? That maybe they already know about the first two clones and the Broken Arrow protocol," Speedy says and Desmond looks at him in horror and Speedy smirks, "the real Speedy says hello and he can't wait to meet you. He's really looking forward to kicking your ass along with Kr."

"You…you can't know about that!" Desmond yells, "Broken Arrow!"

"Oops, did I forget to mention that I had my little mole removed since the last time we met?"

"Speedy, what are you talking about?" Aquagirl hisses but he ignores her.

"Begin the process, NOW!"

* * *

Superboy listens to their screams as he walks down the hall, thinking over everything Speedy had said.

"Home," he whispers before stopping dead in the hallway.

* * *

Aquagirl screams as she feels the machine extract the DNA before it suddenly stops and she looks up to see Superboy ripping through the door. After a moment Speedy is out of his pod giving Superboy a smile.

"Thanks for the help Superboy, could you get Aquagirl out of her pod? I think Batgirl can get out on her own and I'll get Aqualad."

Superboy nods and walks over to Aquagirl's pod, breaking the glass before tearing the cuffs off.

"Thanks," she mutters, rubbing her wrists as Aqualad hops down and they all turn to Batgirl.

"Almost got it," she mutters and after a moment there's a click and she's free as well, "Batman's going to kill me for taking so long."

"RED!" someone yells and they all turn, postures ready for a fight to see a redhead with goggles standing there smiling at them, "DUDE! We've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Sorry," Speedy says making his way forward, "I was watching the sidekicks and they managed to get themselves captured, apparently none of them know the meaning of the word 'stealth'. This is Superboy by the way. Superboy I would like to introduce you to Velocity, a good friend of mine."

"'sup," Velocity says with a smile as he waves at Superboy, "nice ta meet ya'. Like he said, name's Velocity, I'm a speedster."

Superboy nods and Speedy turns to Velocity, "where's everyone else?"

"Fighting, someone woke up all the geno-morphs on every floor and Alley told me to run through and make sure you two were out. Robin hacked into the system and we were just on our way down to free Supey here when we found out they had captured you and the sidekicks."

"We're not sidekicks," Aqualad said with a glare and Velocity rolled his eyes.

"Yes you are, now, we don't want to take the elevator 'cuz we'll be bottlenecked at the top and there's only one set of stairs, Kr said he'd collapse 'em at each level so they couldn't chase us but once we reach Sub-level one the stairs stop and we'll have to create our own exit."

"Got it, Hood here?"

"Alley said no, said that someone needed to watch Stray and Tech and he wasn't ready yet to go up against supervillains."

"There aren't any villains here."

"They had to get the Boy Scout's DNA somehow."

Speedy thought for a moment, "Touché."

"That's what Hood said, now come on," Velocity turned to the sidekicks, "you three don't fight, Supey here can fight if he wants, do you?" he turns to Superboy who considers for a moment before nodding and Velocity turns back to the sidekicks, "as I was saying, you three stay out of the fight, we don't want you getting hurt so just dodge and make your way to the stairs and start climbing."

Aqualad bristles, "we can handle ourselves, you should stay out of the way amateur."

Velocity glares at him, "if you get yourselves killed I would like you to remember that I told you to run got it?"

With that he was gone and Speedy turned to them, "come on, and seriously, you three stay out of the fight, Superboy has impenetrable skin so he'll be fine but you three don't nor do you have the fighting skills of your mentors."

Aquagirl glares at him, "we can fight fine."

"I don't care, stay out of the fight, it wouldn't even be happening like this if you idiots hadn't gotten it in your heads that you needed to prove yourselves and now people could get hurt. Come on and stay out of the fight, Superboy, have fun."

Speedy turns and begins to run down the hallway towards the sounds of fighting, Superboy following and after the three share a glance they follow and find the creatures they had run past on their way down out of their pods in the hallway fighting what looked like an assortment of people their age.

They immediately jumped into the battle but whoever these people were they were good. Every time they turned to a new monster one of them jumped over and dispatched it quickly while they watched in irritation. Pretty soon the hallway was clear and they all stood for a moment to catch their breath, the sidekicks watching on in irritation.

"Who are you?" Aquagirl asked with a scowl and they all turned to her.

"None ya' little fish," a girl says and the raven-haired kid in the cape and the red-head from before snicker.

"Come on," a girl in a creepy cat mask says, "we need to get going before more of them show up."

The rest of them nod and a blur runs up to them before stopping and revealing a brunette kid with goggles.

"Stairs are thataway," he points and they all run off the sidekicks and Superboy following.

They run up the stairs, the guy they call Kr stomping at the top of each staircase and causing more and more debris and geno-morphs to join the rest down the bottom while Superboy watches curiously.

When they finally reach the top they all run out to find a giant door blocking their path and two of the others join the Aquakids and Superboy in trying to pull it open before the pale girl in the cloak stands in front of it for a moment though whatever was supposed to happen didn't.

"Looks like we need to make our own exit," cape-kid says before turning to Kr, "if you would do the honors."

He nods and jumps up; fist held high and creates a giant hole in the ceiling which they can see leads to the lobby of the above ground portion of CADMUS before suddenly everything goes dark.

When they wake up they see Kr standing and staring at the geno-morphs scientist and Superboy staring at him (Kr) in shock.

"You…you're like me?" he whispers and only Alley Cat and Kr can hear it.

"Yeah kid, I am, just like you, we're practically the same person though we found out about you sooner so physically I'm older than you," Kr replies with a small smile and Superboy hesitantly smiles back, "if anyone ever gives you a hard time because of what you are don't hesitate to find me okay? Everyone here will accept you as your own person, not just some cheap knock-off."

Suddenly Desmond shows up and they're fighting a monster and the side-kicks have no idea what to do because they've never worked with any of these people before and then cape-kid cackles and comes up with a plan none of them hear and they watch as the people work in perfect unison before the building collapses and the girl in the cloak they heard cape-kid call Girlhunter is keeping the building off their group with telekinesis.

"Totally feeling the aster!" cape-kid crows, high-fiving Velocity while the rest of them roll their eyes and work on digging their way out.

When they make their way out of the rubble they see the League fly down, under their own power or that of Green Lantern, and Superboy walks up to Superman while the League watches distrustfully. He shows off the 'S' and Batman glances at the others for a moment before the girl with cat-ears and a tail crosses her arms and huffs, left ear twitching and Batman glares at the sidekicks demanding an explanation.

They explain about how they went to CADMUS because Batman showed an interest in investigating them and how they had gotten captured trying to free Superboy. They mention Speedy's odd conversation and how he appears to know the kids who rescued them. They tell of the unknown plan and the building's collapse and after it's done they all turn to the other kids and Speedy before Green Arrow speaks.

"Speedy, what's going on, who are they?"

Cape-kid cackles and walks forwards, stopping just in front of the rest of the group, "We're the Renegades." And then there's darkness.

When they wake up Speedy and the Renegades are gone and Batman says they managed to knock them all out with what was probably a specially created variation of knock-out gas and how he just got his gas-mask up in time and watched as they rode away on motorcycles, the girl with the creepy cat mask sharing her bike with Speedy.

They all look at Green Arrow who looks downtrodden at the thought that his protégé could've betrayed them for someone else before everyone turns to Batman.

"Do you know who they are?" Superman asks, ignoring Superboy who glares at the ground as if he was trying to develop heat-vision.

"They're the Renegades, a group of street-children who lived in Gotham and managed to stay under my radar for several years while they fought crime. When I found out about them I attempted to confront them but they were prepared and used knock-out gas to knock me out and escaped before I woke up. They left Gotham and I haven't heard from them since."

They all stared in shock at the Bat before the Flash spoke up, "do you know anything else?"

"I know one of them is named Wally West," he growled before turning to Batgirl, "let's go."

Flash stood stock still, mouth open in shock as he watched the two Bats get in the Bat-mobile and drive away. He stood there and stared, eyes seemingly not seeing them as Batman's words repeated themselves in his head (something they knew after Martian Manhunter checked).

"Flash…?" Superman started and whatever spell the speedster was under was broken.

"I've gotta go, see you guys later," he said and then he was gone and Aquaman turned disapproving eyes on his protégés and Superman ignored Superboy.

* * *

They were all sitting down in the cave waiting for Bruce to arrive to explain how, exactly, their mission had turned so wrong and why the side-kicks were really there. It was only 30 minutes before he swept through the zeta-tubes and glared at Ray.

"What happened?" he growls out and Ray sighs.

"Mostly, it was like they said. They got curious of CADMUS after the Boy Scout mentioned it and Batgirl offered to hack the system to find out. I told them everything you put into the system and Aquagirl told me to take them there. I refused, ranted about the unfair treatment we get form the League and told them it was being handled by "the Boss's team" and implied he wasn't League. Then Batgirl finished hacking and they decided to go find out more information to "prove themselves to the League that they are mature and responsible young heroes."

"By throing a temper tantrum?" Dick puts in.

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!"

"Okay..." Wally can't resist adding, "side-kicks are weird."

"Anyways Batgirl hacked the system, found the address and I went along to make sure they stayed out of trouble but they drew attention to themselves on the way down to rescue Superboy then managed to get us captured."

Dick and Wally snicker at his misfortune until Ray shuts them up with a glare.

"Shut up, anyways we got podded and I alerted the Light that we knew about the clones and mental suggestions through my taunting..."

"So you basically revealed we knew all about their plans? That was poorly thought through," Bruce interjects and Kat rolls her eyes.

"We never mentioned it before Boss, but there were two levels of mental suggestions, the second was a lot more subtle and would've promoted rebellion against those who appeared to see him as a child, his rant about how the mentors look down on the side-kicks will make them think it is still in place but we think it was completely eradicated since he's mocking them about it. Not only that but he is firmly entrenched in an unknown group of teenage heroes under no suspicion as a mole. Telling the side-kicks about "Boss" and implying he isn't League takes all suspicion off you since we were once based in Gotham and this is something you would do...obviously. It would be rather suspicious if you didn't know anything about a bunch of kids but mysterious unknown benefactor makes it a possibility."

There's silence for a moment before Bruce sighs, "I concede to your logic, well done. I'll look through the files and alert J'onn to the possibility of a mental suggestion." He turns to leave but is stopped when Wally speaks up once again.

"Why'd you tell Uncle B?"

"About what?" he replies without turning around, "I tell Flash a lot of things."

"About me? You promised you wouldn't."

Bruce finally turns around and looks him straight in the eyes before speaking, making sure the full weight of his words are heard, "The Flash showed actual worry when you ran away, even enlisting my help. You need someone to help you with your powers, as much as I detest admitting it my knowledge and your experimentation are nothing compared to Barry's experience."

With that he sweeps back through the zeta-beam leaving them in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are now officially caught up with fanfiction YAY! I have one more chapter to post today which will be all brand new, never before seen material and I also have a character list up because some were confused about the OCs so i just put up a general Renegades roster complete with back-stories. Anyways I hope you enjoy right now I have a new chapter to proof-read


	20. Flash Freak-out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Barry and Iris are told why Wally ran away years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

The Flash ran, and ran, and ran some more until he was back inside his house and changing out of uniform before standing in his kitchen staring at his wife who looked at him with amusement.

“What’s gotten your spandex in a bunch, huh?” she teased as she walked to the pantry and passed him some chips.

“You know how some of my co-workers have protégés correct?” he asked and she nodded, “and they came to the Hall to begin their official initiation into the League?” another nod, “well someone told them that the Hall was just a front for visitors and they didn’t really like that so they decided to go to CADMUS to prove themselves and they met some people there.”

“Yeah,” she asked and he continued.

“They were cloning Superman but apparently someone else had heard about that, a bunch of kids that called themselves the Renegades. Bats had heard of them but he didn’t know much, said they used to work in Gotham but they left and…he knew one other thing about them.”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense,” she said with a smile and he looked her dead in the eye as he spoke his next words.

“He said one of them is named Wally West.”

She froze, “what do you mean?”

“That’s all he knew, said he heard of them in Gotham and went to investigate,” he was slipping into Speedsterish but she had been around him so long it didn’t matter, “they knocked him out and ran and he lost them. I asked if he knew anything else and he said that he knew one of them was named Wally West.”

She’s shaking by now and he runs over and pulls a chair to her which she sinks down into, “do…do you think it’s him?”

“I saw them before they ran away; apparently they had some sort of high-powered knock-out gas. There was a red-headed kid; he looked around Wally’s age and he had green eyes. He didn’t say anything but the kids said his name was Velocity and that he was a speedster.”

“That accident in your lab,” she gasped and he nodded morosely.

“That’s what I was thinking, but he’s gone, Bats was the only one awake when they ran, he grabbed a gas mask since they had used the gas trick on him before, and he couldn’t go after them, they all had motorcycles and he couldn’t just leave us. Apparently they were too far away from him for him to stick a tracker on them. They’re gone and Bats says he has no idea where they went, couldn’t track them after they left Gotham.”

“Could he be lying?” she asked breathlessly, looking up at him, “could he be lying to protect them?”

“Protect them from what?”

“The League, their families; if they’re all runaways they probably don’t want to go back, maybe they work for Batman on the condition he doesn’t send them home,” she says and he thinks about it.

“I’ll ask next time I see him.”

* * *

“You okay Wally,” Dick asks as they trudge upstairs towards their rooms and Wally looks over at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why do you ask?”

“You just…looked kinda out of it, and it was the first time you’ve seen your Uncle since you ran away, just worried about how you’re taking it.”

“I’m fine, I promise, it’s just…I saw him tonight and I remembered all the fun times we had, Uncle Barry’s and Aunt I’s house was like heaven to me after the hell I lived through at home…it was more like home than my actual home and I just remembered that. But then I remember about how he was a superhero and he should’ve seen it, the abuse.”

“Wally, it’s not his fault, you said it yourself you hid it because you were ashamed, and you didn’t go over very often remember? He was probably busy or he probably bought your stories about falling and stuff, you are pretty clumsy.”

“…I…I guess you’re right, maybe…maybe I’ll ask Bruce to contact him, just him, and maybe I’ll go back and visit some time.”

“I think they’d like that, and I think it’d help you too.”

“Yeah, night.”

“Night.”

* * *

Flash didn’t see Batman again until the Team started and they introduced Manhunter’s niece to the kids. When they were distracted and the other mentors were discussing…something he ran up to the Bat and asked tensely, “can I talk to you for a moment?”

After receiving a nod they walked out of the main room and into the hallway and he stopped while the Bat continued until they reached his (Batman’s) old room. He opened the door and stepped in, flicking on the light and Flash followed him before the door slid shut behind him.

“I know what you’re going to ask about and what I am about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone else. This does not include your wife, this does, however, include Wally’s parents,” Batman starts before he can say anything and he immediately shuts up and nods.

“Wally gained super-speed from the accident in your lab. His parents, apparently, didn’t like Metas and when they learned of his powers they were…less than pleased,” Batman said and all the blood drains from his face.

“What did they do,” he croaked out and Batman sighed before removing his cowl revealing Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen soon followed.

“Wally told me he ran away from abusive parents who didn’t like Metas,” Bruce told him looking oddly out of character and sympathetic as Barry slid to the ground.

“No, no, they…they…I would’ve noticed,” he said, “Iris would’ve noticed.”

Bruce shook his head, “he said he hid it from you, he was ashamed that he wasn’t good enough to be loved by his parents, wasn’t strong enough to stop it. Barry Allen was his hero, the Flash was his superhero. According to the rest of the Renegades he was extremely mad when he found out that you were both. He could excuse that Barry Allen didn’t recognize the signs, he could excuse that the Flash couldn’t rescue him, but you were the same person.”

Each word cuts Barry down a little further, a little deeper and Bruce continues, “he was angry for a long time, but when he saw you again he realized it wasn’t your fault and he wants to start over. He said he loved you and he was sorry for making you worry. He said he could understand if you didn’t want to see him again since he ran away and hurt you.”

Flash shook his head at those words, “no, no, no, there’s nothing that kid could do to make me not want to see him again. Where is he, why did you lie about not knowing the Renegades?”

“What I said before was the truth, partially. They did start in Gotham, they did remain under my radar for years, and when I went to investigate they did knock me out, but they didn’t run and we made a deal. They would give me information, on them and PHOENIX, they would keep the identities of the League a secret, they would get out of Gotham, and if I ever needed help they would come. In return I gave them a house, food, training, weapons, and a chance for an education and keep the League away from them. I set them up in Blüdhaven, gave them a city to protect and the resources and training to do it. When I’m away on League missions they watch Gotham. Some of the Renegades have reason to hate League members, the original Speedy hates Arrow because he inadvertently left him behind, Tempest hates Aquaman for not stopping the bullying he received in Atlantis because of who his father was and the list goes on. But Wally realized he didn’t hate you and he wants to start over. He asked me to talk to you and see if you were willing and if you are, meet me at the Zeta-tubes in Central with Iris at five o’clock tonight, I’ll take you to where they’re staying.”

With that he pulled his cowl up and became the stoic Batman again before walking out of the room, leaving Barry to think over everything he had learned. His nephew was okay, he could see him again, hug him again…his nephew was abused, ran away because of it, and he didn’t notice.

He was a superhero and he didn’t notice.

He stayed there for ten minutes before running to the Zeta-beams, all anyone noticed was a breeze and the voice calling out his call sign as he returned to Central to tell his wife what he had learned.


	21. Flash Family Reunions...and Grandkids?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Iris Allen are reunited with their nephew...but who's the other speedster?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Young Justice or the characters affiliated with it.

At 4:45 a nervous Barry and Iris Allen stood outside the Central City Zeta-platform anxiously awaiting the last fifteen minutes before they would see their favorite (and only but they didn't think about that) nephew. At 4:50 the Zeta-beam activated and a dark haired man in jeans, a button-up shirt, and dark sunglasses walked through and raised an eyebrow at them.

"I figured you'd be early," he said in explanation before motioning them to follow as he typed in the coordinates and a flash of light and the three were gone.

 **"Recognized Boss R15, Uncle Barry R17, Aunt Iris R18,"** the computer called and Barry looked up in slight shock.

"What was that?"

"This Zeta-beam system runs separately from the League's although it can connect to any of them. This gives you a separate call sign when coming here and only here. Welcome to HQ," Bruce says and they look around and see a cave. It's much better lit than the Batcave but otherwise it's much the same. Plus there's the lack of bats.

"Did you design it?" Barry asks teasingly and is silenced by Bruce's glare.

"They hacked the Bat-computer and took some of the earlier designs of the 'Cave," he replies and Barry looks around in awe, these kids could knock out the Bat AND hack his system. That's when he heard the voices.

"Come on Wally, go over there and wait, B said they'd probably be early," a male voice says and they look up to see shadows looming from what looks like a training room.

"I know what he said, but what if they're angry? What if they don't come? What if they don't want to see me? I ran off without any explanation and B said they were frantic when that happened. I really hurt them," a new voice says and they immediately realize it's Wally.

"Wally if they were frantically searching for you when you first left what in the world would've changed so much that they wouldn't want to see you at all after you've been gone for years?" a new voice, a girl this time adds.

"Yeah, Wally, from what you say they really loved you and they're probably ecstatic at the thought of seeing you again," a voice that sounds like Speedy adds.

"I agree my friend, they are probably on their way to the Zeta-beam right now, if they aren't there already," another voice adds.

"Actually, they're already here," this new voice sounds like Superboy and they listen as the chatter stops and footsteps sound before a head with red hair and nervous green eyes looks over the edge at them.

"H…Hey Uncle Barry, Aunt Iris," Wally says nervously and blinks as Barry vanishes from sight before he's tackled in a hug from behind before there's a whirlwind and he's standing in his uncle's arms right next to his aunt and Bruce before his aunt joins in the hug and Bruce rolls his eyes before heading upstairs.

There's bickering as Dick argues to watch and make sure everything's okay and Kat says they deserve time together  _alone_  and Bruce clears his throat, "I doubt they'll be leaving any time soon, you might as well cook dinner, and remember you're feeding three speedsters now."

Kat's eyes widen at that statement before she rushes upstairs, she's always the one that cooks for them with help from the others, although Chris, Wally, Roy, Ray, Jason, Simon, and Bart have been permanently banned from the kitchen during food preparation (the reasons ranging from eating everything in sight to the fact that they caught mac-and-cheese on fire…while boiling the noodles).

The rest of them follow her, recognizing the dismissal for what it is, and he takes one last look at the hugging family downstairs before joining them in the living room, he'd been banned from the kitchen as well.

He watches amused as Kaldur and Chris take up their guard positions in the doorways and an hour later they open the door to the Cave and wait for a few moments as the smell wafts down before the speedster noses detect food and the two run upstairs just in time for Kat to shove plates in their hands with orders to set the table and stay out of the kitchen. A few moments later an amused Iris walks up and is immediately drafted into the spoon brigade, a team started by Jade who are all given blunt kitchen utensils and orders to keep hands, especially speedster hands, away from the food as it's being brought out. A good ten minutes and ridiculous amount of food later everything is sitting on the table which groans under the weight and the spoon brigade is disbanded as everyone seats themselves and for several minutes there's silence as everyone begins to eat.

"I'd save room for after dinner," Dick whispers to Iris, "Kat made dessert, but don't tell those three yet."

She nods amused and introductions start.

"I'm Richard Grayson but everyone calls me Dick, I was raised in a circus 'til my parents died when I was eight. They were going to send me to Juvie 'cuz all the orphanages were full but I ran away instead and found Kat. I go by Robin."

The two nod and Kat speaks up, "I'm Katherine Tyler but you can call me Kat with a K. I'm a Meta and I can turn into a cat and manipulate gravity just like Simon my brother," she points to Simon who gives them a wave before she continues speaking, "my parents didn't like Metas and when they found out about Simon's powers they thought I had corrupted him so they kicked us out. I was six and he was six months. I go by Alley Cat."

The two stare in shock before Kat points to Roy who's next to her, "your turn."

"Fine, I'm Roy Harper, the original Speedy. A few months after I became Speedy I was captured by Phoenix and they decided to start Project Sidekick. They cloned me which is Ray right here," he points to Ray who waves before going back to his food, "and Ollie rescued him two months later. They cut off my right arm for DNA and put me in deep freeze. Dick was hacking like he usually did and he found out about me and me and Chris and they came and got us out, decided not to go back since Ollie didn't give enough of a damn about me to check if I was the real one or not. I go by Arsenal," he points to Ray who swallows before speaking.

"Like he said, I'm Ray Harper his clone, I was the Speedy you knew. Ollie rescued me thinking I was him and I didn't know I was a clone until the guys told me. I ran into them when Ollie was working on something with Bruce in Gotham. I go by Red Arrow," he looks to Jade who shrugs.

"I'm Jade Nguyen, daughter of Sportsmaster and Huntress. Artemis," she points to Artemis who gives a half-hearted wave, "is my sister. Neither of us wanted to be assassins like Dad wanted so we ran away. I go by Cheshire and she goes by Tigress."

Simon speaks up next, "I'm Simon, Kat's brother and Kat named me Stray."

There's chuckles all around and Roy speaks, "oh the irony."

"My name is Kaldur'ahm, son of Black Manta. I lived in Atlantis but was bullied because of who my father was so I ran away to the surface. I ended up in Gotham Harbor and Wally and Dick found me. I've been with them since. I chose the name Tempest."

"I'm J'ann M'orzz and I'm Martian Manhunter's niece. I'm a white martian so I was bullied back on Mars. I snuck onto my uncle's Bio-ship in hopes that when we arrived on Earth he would take me as his protégé but instead he was going to send me back to Mars. I convinced the Bio-ship to help me escape and she gave me directions to Gotham City since my uncle avoids it. I go by Joann when I am in human form and Girlhunter when we are patrolling."

They turn to Chris who sighs, "My name is Christopher Kent, I'm the first Project Kr and clone of Superman. They found me when they were rescuing Roy and set me free and I decided to stay. I chose Kr."

Jason swallows his food, "I wanna go next! Name's Jason Todd, street-kid. Wally and Dick found me one day after I stole some donuts off a cop and brought me home. They liked me and my donuts so I stayed and became Red Hood."

Tim speaks up next, "I'm Tim Drake, my Mom and Dad were never home, they were always away on business trips and left me to be taken care of by the maid. I went to the park one day since she was busy and told me to go away and ran into Kat and Roy who were taking Simon to play. We goofed around for a while and when they took me home some guys came up to us with a gun and Kat stopped them. I asked her to teach me so I could help people and she said yes then took me back to the apartment we were staying in at the time and said she would take me back in the morning. When morning came I didn't want to leave so I became Tech of the Renegades."

They all turned to Bart who was nervously moving the food around his plate, "I'm Bart, Bart Allen. I'm a speedster from the future and I came back in time so I could stop the REACH takeover but something went wrong. I ended up in an alternate timeline and too far back so now I'm stuck. I go by Impulse."

Barry and Iris stare at him for a moment, before Barry speaks, "did…did you say your last name was Allen? And you're a speedster?"

"Yeah," he mumbles, "I'm kinda your grandson."

Barry blinks, "well I'll admit this is not how I expected my day to go but it went a lot better than I thought it would. I have my favorite nephew back and now I have a grandkid before I have a kid. Well, welcome to the family Bart."

Bart looks up hopefully, "do…do you really mean it?"

"Yup, you're an Allen, by blood if not by time, which makes you family, heck, all of you are family since you're family to Wally," he says gesturing to the table and they all look stunned for a moment before they grin, some smaller than others.

"Guess that makes you our Uncle Barry," Dick says with a cackle and Barry nods.

"Guess so kid."

There're smiles all around and eventually Kat brings out seven pies, sets one down in front of each speedster and begins to cut the rest handing each person a slice while the speedsters savored their personal pie.

"You know I kind of gave the three of you your own pie as a joke," Kat says as she watches them scarf down their entire pies.

"NEVER JOKE ABOUT FOOD!" the three yell seriously and simultaneously and there's silence for a moment before everyone starts laughing at the blushing speedsters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for once the chapter is early. I'm very, very shocked but I volunteer at the library 'til five tomorrow and I was already thinking about it so what the hell here we are. I would just like to say a couple things.
> 
> First off, thank you, thank everyone who's read the story (over 11,000 views as of today, I damn near had a heart attack).
> 
> Secondly, the poll for who you would like Dick Grayson a.k.a. Robin the 1st and Nightwing to be paired with is up on my fanfiction.com account Ravenclaws-do-it-better and will remain up until Zatanna is introduced (I have no idea when that will be) but for now the poll is still up.
> 
> Thirdly, this is the last pre-written chapter. I have most of the next chapter written out and I know what I want to do in the long run with this story but that means that chapters could (and knowing me probably will) be more sporadic in the future because it's been ages since I've watched the show and I need to figure out what episodes I want them to interfere in, which episodes I'll leave them out of but change completely, and what new episodes I want to add in following their shenanigans (I'll be adding more Simon YAY! I originally created him as a plot device to give her parents a reason to kick her out when she'd been living with them as a meta for years but now he's going to be bloody adorable). I do know that Batgirl will find out who "The Boss" is before the rest of Young Justice and can we say JEALOUSY but it'll all even out eventually.
> 
> Fourthly, I attempt to post chapters each and every Wednesday...so far this hasn't worked out but I will try.
> 
> Lastly, I may or may not in the long run (preferably after I finish this story) actually finish writing the story I originally created Alley Cat for. Yup, you read that right folks. THIS ISN'T ALLEY'S ORIGINAL STORY. I have noticed a habit of mine to recycle OC's and keep everything about them except their background and possibly their age. Mostly this happens between stories I haven't/ won't write but I kinda really want to write this one but I plan on finishing this one first, definitely, probably, maybe, hopefully...damn it whatever we'll see what happens but should I ever write the first chapter I'll post it and see what you think...*realizes she has several middle chapters done*...damn it.
> 
> I'm rambling and basically attempting to procrastinate because I REAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY don't want to do Pre-Cal homework but I also REAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY need to (you can tell how much I'm procrastinating because I counted out how many A's, L's, and Y's were there so the words were the same length). At this point I'm pretty sure the A/N: is actually longer than the chapter. Sorry about the short chapter.
> 
> IN CONCLUSION:
> 
> Thank you for reading/kudos/bookmarking and please continue to read as well as vote in the poll (polls...maybe, I dunno). You all are brilliant and amazing people and in all of my lives I have never met anyone who wasn't important.
> 
> ~Miss Claw


	22. Drop Zone Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman assigns the Team a mission to Santa Prisca and asks The Renegades to watch over them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any characters affiliated.

"Lemme get this straight," Kat said from her place in the spinny chair in front of the computer, "you want us to go to Santa Prisca because you're assigning a mission to the sidekicks and you want us to watch them and make sure they get out of their alive without them knowing?"

"Yes," Batman deadpans from on screen and Kat rolls her eyes.

"I'll talk to the guys but I think Wally and Bart are in Central right now visiting Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris," she said and he sighs.

"I won't assign the mission until tonight and they won't leave for an hour after that. I want you there an hour before they get there so when I'm assigning the mission you should leave. Make sure the drop zones are safe and keep any goons far away from the path the Bio-ship will take. Also, send Robin in to get the information just in case it results in failure, you could probably send Velocity with him in case they are discovered. Otherwise let them run their mission and don't interfere unless they are severely outmatched."

Kat nods and Batman ends the transmission before she gets up.

"This is going to be a long day."

* * *

"We are approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian said from her spot steering the Bio-ship and they all look through the windshield towards the island.

The plan was simple; the first drop zone was for Aqualad and Aquagirl who would watch his back as he put the motion sensors on continuous loop while the others moved in. They would meet up with them later after they tracked their GPS signal while they made their way toward the factory. After that, the real work began.

* * *

"When are they supposed to get here again?" Velocity whined through the mental link Joann had put up and the others sighed.

"According to the Boss's tracker they are just off the coast give me a moment," Alley replied and they waited for a moment as Alley listened in to the tracker/ listening device/ camera the Boss had given them access to, "Drop zone A is a go," she calls over the mental link and Robin shifts position from next to Velocity, already hacked into the heat and motion sensors and beginning to record the loop.

They wait for a moment as the Aquakids plug the device in and call out over their hacked comm. links, "Heat and motion sensors are patched, data is now on continuous loop, move in."

Robin smiles as he watches the tech he had designed alongside Tech do its magic before scowling as the Bio-ship moved in too quickly as the data was still recording and rewriting the sensor information with what he had recorded previously.

"Honestly, didn't Boss tell him how long it would record before looping?" he whispers to Velocity who shrugs.

"Yeah, he did," Alley says over the mental link, "and remember to use the mind link, we don't know who's listening."

"Sorry," they repeat and they can hear Tigress laughing at them, "Shut up."

"They're almost to Drop Zone B," Alley says and Robin closes his holo-glove and Velocity picks him up, "is it still clear?"

"Affirmative, no one around in a five-mile radius," Girlhunter replies and Alley hums.

"Alright Tempest, call it," she calls over the link. Tempest had been voted temporary leader as Red was too hotheaded, Cheshire didn't want it, and Girlhunter and Kr were too inexperienced. They had all recognized that Robin would probably make a good leader when he was older, he was a great strategist but for now he was too unsure of himself.

"Velocity, get Robin to Alley Cat's location and drop him off there. Robin you already have the information correct?" Tempest calls over the link.

"Yeah, and a sample of the Venom/ Blockbuster compound, Velocity says that if they can enhance each other then there may be a possibility that they can cancel each other out as well," Robin replies, checking to make sure that the vials were still in his belt.

"Good, I want you to leave the information with Alley Cat and then I want you and Velocity to watch the Aquakids' journey to meet up with the rest of the sidekicks. Alley, I want you to remain in position and monitor everything, if the loop stops repeating…,"

"It won't." Robin comments.

"Nevertheless just to be safe watch it and if it stops repeating restart the loop with information we recorded earlier. I want you to watch the enemies' positions, Girlhunter you are not to do any more mental scans of the area as Miss Martian will be able to sense you, just keep the link up and remain on look out near Alley Cat."

"Got it Tempest."

"Kr and Impulse, the three of us are going to watch the factory, Tigress, Cheshire, Arsenal, and Red Arrow; you are to travel alongside the sidekicks and should they get into any altercations where they are severely outmatched only then should you intervene, are we clear?"

Various sounds of agreement sound over the mind link and Robin buries his face into Velocity's shoulder as he runs to the bottom of the tree Alley Cat sits in. Girlhunter drops down and suddenly the two are floating up to the top of the tree where Alley sits with her laptop on a branch, back to the trunk and legs dangling as she monitors the actual heat and motion sensors along with satellite imagery of the island.

"Here you go," Robin says handing her a flash-drive and two vials which she takes and stows away in the messenger bag that is slung across her torso, carefully sticking the vials in a padded case before slinging it back down to where it dangles at her side and plugging the flash drive into her computer as Girlhunter lowers the other two to the forest floor.

"Information received, samples stowed, we are good to go," Alley Cat calls over the link and Velocity picks Robin back up and in less than a minute they're in the trees on the edge of the island watching the Aquakids climb a cliff.

"Have they honestly never heard of a grapple?!" Robin asks incredulously, a grapple happened to be one of his favorite toys…I mean gadgets.

"Aquagirl, Drop B is a go," Miss Martian calls over the comm. links, they all had one sitting in their ear that ran the same frequency as the sidekicks' although the microphones were turned off on their end.

"Are they even trying to stay hidden?" Cheshire asks annoyed at the volume the girl speaks with.

"Hey, it's her first mission," Girlhunter defends and Alley sighs.

"GH, we're not blaming her. Someone should have told her, especially since the Aquakids have been going for a couple years and Batgirl has been trained in stealth by the Boss."

"You have a good point, I wonder why they're not using a mind link like us?" Tigress asks.

"She's probably been told that communicating through the mind is frowned upon on Earth so she didn't think to suggest it," Girlhunter says knowingly, it had taken her a while to adjust to Earth as well.

"Alley Cat, what was it Aquagirl said their plan was?" Tempest asks, apparently he had been paying more attention to their conversation than Aquagirl's orders.

"She told them to head to the factory and that she and Aqualad would track their GPS ASAP," Alley Cat replies, watching as the three signals that are the sidekicks make their way towards the factory.

There's silence for a while as everyone carries out their jobs before Alley Cat speaks, "Chesh and company, I'm picking up two groups of heat signatures coming towards the sidekicks."

"Can you give us estimates?" Cheshire asks.

"No, sorry but if they're quiet I don't think they'll see them, they'll run into each other before they run into the sidekicks and based on the info I skimmed from what Robin gave me Bane was, what the heck did you call it outfiltrated?, anyways Bane and co. were kicked out and Kobra came and took over but there's still some resistance against them," Alley says, pulling up a second window and scrolling through the information, "I can't say who wants the Venom/ Blockbuster mixture though, but that just might be lack of thorough searching."

"Alright, I think Superboy heard the groups," Cheshire says and they quiet down as they listen to the open comm. link.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Superboy asks and Batgirl and Miss Martian turn to look at him.

"Hear what?" Batgirl asks, "Wait, you have super-hearing."

"You do have great ears," Miss Martian says dreamily and the other two look at her.

"Okay…Aquagirl, what next?" Batgirl asks and they wait for a response.

"Superboy, Batgirl, switch to Infra-red, see if you're being tracked," Aquagirl commands over the comm. link and Batgirl reaches up to activate her mask while Superboy squints.

"We have a squad of armed goons incoming," Batgirl reports.

"Two squads," Superboy corrects and Batgirl turns while Superboy continues, "but they'll meet each other before they find us."

Gunshots sound in the distance, "Guess we don't need super-hearing now, huh?" Batgirl jokes while Aquagirl's voice sounds out over the comms.

"Swing wide, steer clear!" she whisper yells and they all nod and attempt to begin to retreat…until Batgirl slips on a loose patch of dirt, causing a minor mud slide which lands her right in between the two groups.

"…so much for stealth," she sighs as she begins to dodge the bullets.

* * *

"Cheshire, why am I now reading Batgirl right in between the two groups of gun-toting goons?" Alley Cat asks tensely and they all hear Cheshire sigh through the link before Arsenal responds.

"Probably because Miss Graceful slipped on the mud and rolled down the hill right in between the two groups," he says and they all hear Alley Cat's sigh and feel Girlhunter's amusement at her facepalm.

"I am so putting this in my report to the Boss," she says.

"Wait, we have to write a report?!" Velocity asks worriedly.

"Tempest and I do, 'cuz he's leader and I'm den mother."

"Since when are you den mother?"

"Since I'm the one that yells at you to do your homework."

"…Touché."

"I believe that for now we should focus on the task at hand," Tempest says exasperatedly, "Cheshire, do they need assistance?"

"No, looks like they have it under control, although the Aquakids had to show up and take out the last of them."

"Then for now we remain out of sight."

* * *

"I recognize those uniforms," Aquagirl says, "they belong to the Cult of the Kobra. But I'm certain Batman would've mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation."

"I agree, based on the fact that they were shooting each other I would say Kobra came in and took over," Aqualad said.

"That's probably why normal supply routes have stopped," Batgirl pipes up.

"So, is that all we needed to do?" Miss Martian asks but Aquagirl shakes her head.

"No, we need to figure out why Kobra wanted Santa Prisca, supplies have stopped so they're hoarding it and we need to know why."

"Such clever niños, but you only know half the story," Bane chuckles from behind them and they turn to look at him, "let me show you the rest. Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

"There is a secret entrance," Miss Martian confirms, reading his mind as she kneels in front of him, "but he's still hiding something."

"Ah, ah, ah chica; Bane is not that easy."

"He's mentally reciting futbol scores in español, this may take a while," Miss M sighs turning from Bane.

"It's not complicated, the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Bane says with a smirk and they all turn to Aquagirl who nods.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up, did they just accept help from BANE?" Tigress yells mentally and those watching them can feel surprise radiate from the others.

"Please tell me you're joking 'gress," Alley Cat says.

"Sadly, she speaks the truth," Cheshire says and Alley sighs.

"What now Tempest?"

"This shouldn't change anything, the plan continues on as it was before although you will need to pay close attention to Bane as he will eventually turn on them," Tempest tells them over the link and there are sounds of agreement until Cheshire speaks up.

"Bane mentioned something about a secret entrance, I'm not sure if we'll be able to follow them into it, at least not if we want to maintain our secrecy."

"…Follow them to the entrance of the passage. Velocity and Robin, you will watch the entrance and alert us if they reappear, Cheshire, Tigress, and Red Arrow, you will join Impulse, Kr, and I in watching the factory. Velocity, I want you to take Arsenal to Alley Cat, Red Arrow can stay with Robin until you return. Arsenal, and Alley Cat; begin moving towards the factory as well as watching the feeds, Arsenal can watch your back. Girlhunter, go into the passage with the side-kicks, will you be able to maintain the mental link without discovery?"

"I managed to shield my mind from discovery by my uncle, it should be a piece of cake but I probably won't be participating in the conversations much, and no more bickering since it could raise the likelihood of us being discovered."

"Understood, move out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, only a few days late, that's like a new record. I'll finish up with the rest of this episode in the next chapter. Originally it was all going to be one chapter but then I realized that could take a while because I have like four projects for school due so I figured "Why the hell not?"
> 
> Thanks again for your support  
> ~Miss Claw


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